Shadowing Practice: Cambridge IELTS 16-Test 4 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Test 4.

This is the IELTS listening test.

You will hear a number of different recordings and you will have to answer questions on what you hear.

There will be time for you to read the instructions and questions and you will have a chance to check your work.

All the recordings will be played once only.

The test is in four parts.

At the end of the test, you will be given ten minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet.

Now turn to part one.

Part one.

You will hear a man phoning the owner of a holiday cottage.

First, you have some time to look at questions one to six.

Thanks.

Now listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 6.

Hello.

Oh, hello.

I was hoping to speak to Jack Fitzgerald about renting a cottage.

I'm his wife Shirley and we own the cottages together so I'm sure I can help you.

Great.

My name's Tom.

Some friends of ours rented Granary Cottage from you last year

and they thought it was great so my wife and I are hoping to come in May for a week.

What date did you have in mind?

The week beginning the 14th, if possible.

I'll just check.

I'm sorry, Tom, it's already booked that week.

It's free the week beginning the 28th, though, for seven nights.

In fact, that's the only time you could have it in May.

Oh, well, we could manage that, I think.

We'd just need to change a couple of things.

How much would it cost?

That's the beginning of high season, so it'd be 550 pounds for the week.

Ah, that's a bit more than we wanted to pay, I'm afraid.

We've budgeted up to 500 pounds for accommodation.

Well, we've just finished converting another building into a cottage, which we're calling Cherville Cottage.

Sorry, what was that again?

Cherville.

C -H -E -R -V for Victor, I -L.

Oh, that's a herb, isn't it?

That's right.

It grows fairly wild around here.

You could have that for the week you want for £480.

OK, so could you tell me something about it, please? Of course.

The building was built as a garage.

It's a little smaller than Granary Cottage.

So that must sleep two people as well.

That's right.

There's a double bedroom.

Does it have a garden?

Yes, you get to it from the living room through French doors, and we provide two deck chairs.

We hope to build a patio in the near future, but I wouldn't like to guarantee it'll be finished by May.

Okay.

The front door opens onto the old farmyard, and parking isn't a problem.

There's plenty of room at the front for that.

There are some trees and potted plants there.

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

Now listen and answer questions 7 to 10.

What about facilities in the cottage?

It has standard things like a cooker and fridge, I presume.

In the kitchen area, there's a fridge freezer and we've just put in an electric cooker.

Is there a washing machine?

Yes.

There's also a TV in the living room, which plays DVDs too.

The bathroom is too small for a bath, so there's a shower instead.

I think a lot of people prefer that nowadays anyway.

It's more environmentally friendly, isn't it?

Unless you spend half the day in it.

Exactly.

What about heating?

It sometimes gets quite cool at that time of year.

There's central heating, and if you want to light a fire, there's a stove.

We can provide all the wood you need for it.

It smells so much nicer than coal, and it makes the room very cosy.

We've got one in our own house.

That sounds very pleasant.

Perhaps we should come in the winter to make the most of it.

Yes, we find we don't want to go out when we've got the fire burning.

There are some attractive views from the cottage which I haven't mentioned.

There's a famous stone bridge.

It's one of the oldest in the region and you can see it from the living room.

It isn't far away.

The bedroom window looks in the opposite direction and has a lovely view of the hills and the monument at the top.

Well, that all sounds perfect.

I'd like to book it, please.

Would you want a deposit?

Yes.

We ask for 30 % to secure your booking.

So that'll be...

£144.

And when would you like the rest of the money?

You're coming in May.

So the last day of March, please.

Fine.

Excellent.

Could I just take your details so that I can...

That is the end of part one.

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

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “Cambridge IELTS 16-Test 4”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: cottage, questions, answer, test, hear. This video has 95 sentences and 803 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:36. The speaker talks at a steady 122 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 84% 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

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
cottage noun	/ˈkɒt.ɪd͡ʒ/	A small house.
bedroom noun	/ˈbɛdˌɹum/	A room in a house, apartment, hotel, or other dwelling where a bed is kept for sleeping.
pound noun	/ˈpaʊ̯nd/	A unit of weight in various measurement systems.
carefully adverb	/ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/	With care; attentively, circumspectly.
wash verb	/wɑʃ/	To clean with water.
bath noun	/bɑːθ/	A tub or pool which is used for bathing: bathtub.
guarantee noun	/ˌɡæɹ.ənˈtiː/	Anything that assures a certain outcome.
deck noun	/ˈdɛk/	Any raised flat surface that can be walked on: a balcony; a porch; a raised patio; a flat rooftop.
pot noun	/pɑt/	A flat-bottomed vessel (usually metal) used for cooking food, possibly excluding saucepans (see usage notes).
sheet noun	/ʃit/	A thin bed cloth used as a covering for a mattress or as a layer over the sleeper.
garage noun	/ɡəˈɹɑʒ/	A building (or section of a building) used to store a car or cars, tools and other miscellaneous items.
deposit noun	/dɪˈpɑ.zɪt/	Sediment or rock that is not native to its present location or is different from the surrounding material. Sometimes refers to ore or gems.
pleasant adjective	/ˈplɛz.ənt/	Giving pleasure; pleasing in manner.
instruction noun	/ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/	The act of instructing, teaching, or providing with information or knowledge.
convert verb	/kənˈvɝt/	To transform or change (something) into another form, substance, state, or product.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
go out verb	To leave, especially a building.

Sentences worth repeating

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

What date did you have in mind?
We'd just need to change a couple of things.
It's more environmentally friendly, isn't it?
We've got one in our own house.
Would you want a deposit?

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	We've budgeted · we've just finished · we've just put
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	will be played · will be given · was built

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 24 contractions and reduced forms, such as we've, I'm, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: wash /wɑʃ/, sheet /ʃit/, garage /ɡəˈɹɑʒ/, instruction /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/, accommodation /əˌkɒm.əˈdeɪ.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 cottage, bedroom, pound.

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: Cambridge IELTS 16-Test 4 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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