Shadowing Practice: CET-6 Listening Long Conversation: A Four-Day Work Week - Learn English Speaking with Video

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28 sentences
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Conversation One.
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My guest today is Laura Bennett, operations manager at a software company.
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Laura, last year your company moved to a four-day week. Why?
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Mainly because we were losing good people.
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Our staff were tired, and several of our best developers left in one year.
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But didn't you worry that less time would mean less work?
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Of course! That was the first thing our board asked.
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So we agreed on a six-month trial, with clear targets for every team.
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Same pay, same goals, but only four days to reach them.
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And what happened?
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Honestly, the results surprised all of us!
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Productivity stayed the same, and sick days fell by almost half.
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People cut long meetings and stopped answering emails late at night.
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Were there any problems?
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Yes. Our customer support team found it much harder.
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Customers still expect help five days a week.
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So that team works in shifts, and each person picks a different day off.
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Would you advise other companies to try it?
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Only if they measure results, not hours.
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If you still judge people by how long they sit at a desk, it won't work.
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Laura Bennett, thank you very much.
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Questions one to four are based on the conversation you have just heard.
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Question one. Why did the company move to a four-day week?
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Question two. What happened during the six-month trial?
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Question three. What problem did the customer support team have?
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Question four. What does the woman advise other companies to do?
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Four days of work, three days of rest.
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It's not a dream if you plan it well.

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CET-6 Listening

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “CET-6 Listening Long Conversation: A Four-Day Work Week”. This video has 28 sentences and 269 words to shadow. The speech runs for 1:50. The speaker talks at a steady 147 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 91% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow. 9 of its 28 sentences are questions, so it is good practice for question intonation and short answers.

Key vocabulary in this video

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

WordPronunciationMeaning
desk noun/dɛsk/A table, frame, or case, in past centuries usually with a sloping top but now usually with a flat top, for the use of writers and readers. It often has a…
developer noun/dɪˈvɛləpɚ/A person or entity engaged in the creation or improvement of certain classes of products.
productivity noun/ˌpɹɒdʌkˈtɪvəti/The state of being productive, fertile, or efficient.
customer noun/ˈkʌs.tə.mə/A person or company who purchases or receives a product or service from a business or merchant or intends to do so.
email noun/ˈiˌmeɪl/A system for sending messages and datas by means of a computer network, primarily the Internet, using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and the Internet…
measure noun/ˈmeɪ.ʒɚ/A limit that cannot be exceeded; a bound. (Now chiefly in set phrases.)
mainly adverb/ˈmeɪnli/Of a person or thing being the driving force influencing the outcome of an event; chiefly; certainly for the most part.
guest noun/ɡɛst/A recipient of hospitality, especially someone staying by invitation at the house of another.
shift noun/ˈʃɪft/A movement to do something, a beginning.
advice noun/ədˈvaɪs/An opinion offered to guide behavior in an effort to be helpful.
trial noun/ˈtɹaɪəl/An occasion on which a person or thing is tested to find out how well they perform or how suitable they are.
conversation noun/ˌkɑn.vəɹˈseɪ.ʃən/Expression and exchange of individual ideas through talking with other people; also, a set instance or occasion of such talking.
agree verb/əˈɡɹi/To be in harmony about an opinion, statement, or action; to have a consistent idea between two or more people.
manager noun/ˈmæn.ə.dʒəɹ/A person whose job is to manage something, such as a business, a restaurant, or a sports team.
judge verb/d͡ʒʌd͡ʒ/To sit in judgment on; to pass sentence on (a person or matter).

Pronunciation to watch

  • The “sh” and “zh” sounds: measure /ˈmeɪ.ʒɚ/, shift /ˈʃɪft/, conversation /ˌkɑn.vəɹˈseɪ.ʃən/, operation /ˌɑ.pəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
  • Long words — get the stress right: developer /dɪˈvɛləpɚ/, productivity /ˌpɹɒdʌkˈtɪvəti/, conversation /ˌkɑn.vəɹˈseɪ.ʃən/, operation /ˌɑ.pəˈɹeɪ.ʃən/

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like desk, developer, productivity.

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 →