Shadowing Practice: Complete IELTS Bands 5 6 5 Workbook Mark Harrison - Learn English Speaking with Video

Complete IELTS, Bands 5 to 6.5,

Workbook by Mark Harrison, published by Cambridge University Press.

This recording is copyright.

Track 2, Unit 1.

You will hear an interviewer asking a member of the public for his views on the city.

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

You will see that there is an example that has been done for you.

On this occasion only, the conversation relating to this will be played first.

Uh, hello.

We're conducting a survey about what people think of this city.

I wonder, would you mind answering a few questions?

I'm in a bit of a hurry.

Well, it won't take long.

Just a couple of minutes of your time.

Well, OK.

But I haven't been living here for long, so I might not be able to answer some of your questions.

That's not a problem.

We're looking for views from a range of people.

Could I just get a few details first?

OK, I guess.

Well, first of all, which age group do you fit into?

18 to 24, 25 to 34, 35 to 50?

Um, 28.

So that's the middle one of those.

What was it?

25 to 34?

Yes.

OK, that's me.

The man is aged 28 and in the 25 to 34 age group.

So 25 to 34 has been written in the space.

Now we shall begin.

You should answer the questions as you listen, as you will not hear the recording a second time.

Uh, hello.

We're conducting a survey about what people think of this city.

I wonder, would you mind answering a few questions?

I'm in a bit of a hurry.

Well, it won't take long.

Just a couple of minutes of your time.

Well, OK.

But I haven't been living here for long, so I might not be able to answer some of your questions.

That's not a problem.

We're looking for views from a range of people.

Could I just get a few details first?

OK, I guess.

Well, first of all, which age group do you fit into?

18 to 24?

25 to 34?

35 to 50?

I'm 28, so that's the middle one of those.

What was it?

25 to 34?

Yes.

OK, that's me.

And how long have you been living in this city?

I've only been here for three weeks, and it's my first experience of this country at all.

I've come here to work on a six-month contract.

Right.

So it's all pretty new for you.

Yes.

I'm still getting used to it.

Right.

So where did you live previously?

I'm from New Zealand.

I lived there all my life before I came to Britain.

Oh really?

I haven't met anybody else from your country before.

No?

Well, there are a few of us here.

OK.

Perhaps I'll meet some more while I'm doing this.

Now, the next question is occupation.

Did you say you came here for work?

Yes, that's right.

I'm a lawyer.

My firm has sent me here to gain some experience of practising law in an international context.

So, I'm here to learn, really.

Sounds very interesting.

Yes, I'm already learning a lot.

Things are very different here from back at home.

Now, what area of the city are you living in?

I'm in an apartment in Waterfall Road, that's in Cowndon.

Oh, OK.

Let's see.

How's that spelt?

C-O-U-N-D-O-N.

That's right, isn't it?

It's O-N at the end, not E-N, isn't it?

Yes, that's right.

And your postcode, if you can remember it.

Just the first part will do.

That's CV26.

OK, thanks.

Now I want to ask you for your views on various aspects of living here.

First of all, public transport.

Is the public transport system adequate for you?

Hmm, well, it's hard to say.

When I've used it, it's been fine, but I don't use it all that often.

I cycle to work every day, and that's usually how I get around in my free time too,

so I'm not sure I can comment really on that particular issue.

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No improvements to suggest then?

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No, I don't have enough experience to do that.

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OK.

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Now sports facilities.

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Do you do much sport?

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Yes, I do.

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It's my main interest outside work, and I've got no criticisms there.

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As soon as I arrived, I joined a cricket club.

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A friend back home who'd lived here for a while told me about it.

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And I've made lots of friends there already.

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Apart from that, do you think there are enough facilities?

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Yes, as far as I can see.

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I use the public swimming pool regularly.

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I've found some very good tennis courts and the fitness centre is fine too.

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I've been able to carry on doing all the sports I'm used to doing at home.

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What about entertainment?

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Is this adequately provided or is the city lacking in something?

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Well, coming from a pretty small town, I've been amazed at what's on offer here.

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There are so many things to choose from in the evenings and at weekends.

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I don't think I'll have time to go everywhere I'd like to while I'm here.

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I've already been to some excellent restaurants.

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I've been to the cinema a few times.

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I've been to all sorts of places.

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There seem to be loads of things to do.

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What about cleanliness and litter?

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Do you have any views on that?

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Well, to be honest, I've been pretty surprised about that.

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Before I came, for some reason, I'd had the impression that it would be a pretty dirty place, certainly compared with where I'm from.

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You know, I was expecting a crowded city with litter and rubbish all over the place.

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And sure, there is some litter and it could all be a bit cleaner, but actually it's not at all bad in that respect.

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OK.

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And now, what about crime and the police force?

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What are your views on that aspect of life in this city?

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Well, I haven't been here long enough to form much of a view.

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A colleague at work had her car broken into and some things stolen and she reported it to the police, but there wasn't much they could do about it,

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apart from give her a crime number so that she could claim on her insurance.

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I don't know how common that sort of thing is here.

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Nothing's happened to me so far, that's all I can say.

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Perhaps I've just been lucky, or perhaps crime isn't a major problem, I don't know.

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But there's crime everywhere, isn't there?

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All over the world, and in the countryside, as well as cities.

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OK.

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Well, I've got all the information I need for the survey, and I've ticked the right boxes.

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Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions.

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No problem.

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Track 3, Unit 2.

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You will hear a speaker introducing a conference.

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First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 10.

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Now listen and answer questions 1 to 10.

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Hello, and welcome to the conference.

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As you know, it's called Health and Fitness in the Workplace, and the name speaks for itself.

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We're here to discuss issues that can affect employees, and of course, therefore, the companies and organisations they work for.

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In planning the programme for this conference, we've taken into account the answers that you gave us in our questionnaires.

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Of course, some of the issues we cover will be more relevant to some of you than to others,

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but we think we've included all the main ones that you indicated are important to you.

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Now, the whole subject of health and fitness in the workplace is something

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that didn't get much attention not that many years ago.

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Companies and organizations focused purely on the jobs that people were doing,

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and any assessment of them concerned how well they were doing their jobs, and how their work fitted into the overall operations of the organization.

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Anything that might be regarded as a personal issue wasn't part of the company's relationship with its people.

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It was none of their business.

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Well, of course, that's all changed,

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and companies and organizations have come to realize that its people's health and fitness are very much their business.

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And that's not just in the obvious ways, such as the number of days off sick that employees have.

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There are also psychological factors, and there is considerable evidence that a fit

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and healthy person does their job better than someone who doesn't maintain a good level of health and fitness.

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If you're emphasizing these things at your workplace,

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you're creating an atmosphere that enables you to get the very best out of your people.

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We are very much hoping that our program here at the conference will be both informative and entertaining.

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The emphasis here is going to be not so much on the theory, but on the practical side.

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What can you do in your roles to promote health and fitness in your workplace?

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Now, some of you may think you're already doing as much as you can,

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but I promise you that you're all going to learn something new.

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We've got speakers here who are going to tell you things you've never heard before, and you should leave here at the end of the conference

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with all kinds of ideas for things you can introduce at your workplace.

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But we're not going to be just talking to you and telling you things.

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One of the great things about an event like this is that it's a great opportunity to share information,

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so in every session there will be a slot for people to talk about their own practices and experiences.

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What initiatives have worked for you, and which ones haven't been so successful?

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We can all learn from each other, and that's one of the aims of this conference.

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Okay, now let's move on to some details about the conference, and what will be happening where.

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Let me just briefly take you through the map that you've all got in your welcome pack.

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Right.

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Here on the map, we've marked all the sessions that are taking place this morning,

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and you've already indicated which ones you'll each be attending.

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For those of you going to the session on setting up a fitness centre at work,

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You go out of the main hall here through those doors,

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turn right at reception, and go along the corridor to the tailor room, which is on your left.

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You'll get lots of good advice there on the possibilities and costs of a workplace fitness centre.

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The talk on healthy eating schemes is in the Martin's Suite.

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For that, you need to go out of this hall the other way, through the doors at that end.

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And that takes you straight through to the Martin's Suite.

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If you're keen to introduce healthy eating schemes in your canteens and restaurants, or to improve ones you've already got,

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you'll get lots of really good ideas from that session.

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Now, those of you attending the session on transport initiatives, you're in the fender room.

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To get there, you need to go out of those doors that bring you out opposite reception.

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Turn left, and left again into a corridor.

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The fender room is the third door on your right.

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The session will cover everything from how to encourage people to walk or cycle to work,

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to car-sharing schemes For those of you who have signed up for the workshop on running sports teams,

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that will take place in the Gibson suite The whole issue of organising company teams,

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recruiting people for them, encouraging people to take part in them, whatever their sporting ability, taking part in competitions,

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all that will get covered in the workshop.

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You'll find that if you go out of here, turn right at reception, and then right again.

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The first door you come to on the left is the Gibson Suite.

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Finally, if you need any more information or have any queries while the conference is going on,

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you'll find me in the conference coordinator's office.

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From here, that's to the left of reception, and along the corridor past the entrance hall.

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If you keep going along the corridor, you'll find my door at the end on your right.

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Please come and see me if there's anything you want to ask or find out.

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Okay, let's get started.

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I hope that you all enjoy...

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Track 4, Unit 3.

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You will hear a student talking to her tutor about a piece of work she has done.

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First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 10.

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Now listen and answer questions 1 to 10.

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Right, Beth.

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Let's have a look at your dissertation.

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Well, I think it's a pretty good piece of work.

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Thanks Communication skills in the workplace Good choice of topic Thanks Now,

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I see that you decided to focus on certain sectors Yes,

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I felt that jobs involving interaction with the public would be my main area

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So obviously the retail sector had to be in there Sure, but you didn't just focus on the obvious ones like that, did you?

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No. I wanted to look at a variety of sectors.

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I felt, for example, that banking would probably lead to the same sort of results as retail.

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And what about call centres?

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Yes.

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Of course, that seemed like an obvious place to go initially.

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But I decided to spread the focus away from interactions involving customers and the goods and services they buy.

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Seems sensible.

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So, that led you to the idea of tourist guides.

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Yes, that's a very specific area of communication, dealing with different nationalities.

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The skills involved in that are very interesting as you describe them.

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Yes, and that led me to think about the work of translators and interpreters.

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Well, that might be the starting point for a whole other piece of work.

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Yes.

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Now, the research you did for this was generally very impressive Thanks Though,

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a bit more on the academic research that's been done into this area would have been good Well,

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I went more for a personal approach here rather than rehashing other people's work

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or focusing mainly on the theories about how people communicate Yes, and it worked well

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It would have been good if you could have filmed people in action and then analysed the videos I know,

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but there were practical issues there So I settled for watching people in action

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and making notes on what they were doing And of course there were the interviews too Yes, it's very interesting to compare what people think they're doing with

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the way they're actually communicating I was very struck by that aspect

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and your analysis from watching people in action was very effective too.

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I found it fascinating to do that.

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Yes, that comes across.

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It would be fascinating to get data on the outcomes of these interactions too, whether the desired outcomes were achieved.

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I know, and that would be something I'd love to look at if I knew how to go about it.

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Now, looking at the content of your dissertation, I felt your division into sections was the right one,

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focusing on specific types of interaction in these contexts Thanks Now,

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your first section is on dealing with complaints This is an obvious area for something on this subject,

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but I felt that this section had some really original thinking on your part Yes.

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I try to ignore the standard points that are usually made and come up with something fresh.

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And my research led me in those directions.

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The collaborating with colleagues section made for interesting reading too.

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But I didn't feel that your conclusions there were really backed up by the research you did.

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Oh, I felt that they were.

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I tried to illustrate everything with examples.

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perhaps some weren't as relevant as others.

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Yes, I think that's right.

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You made some pretty strong assertions but I wasn't sure they could be justified by the examples.

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Oh, OK.

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But the evidence for my conclusions in the interacting with managers section was pretty powerful, wasn't it?

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Yes, and most of the research in this general area doesn't focus on this particular issue.

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I think your conclusions there point to something that causes all sorts of trouble in organisations and companies, but that isn't given enough attention.

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I agree.

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It's something that training programmes should be covering, but they don't.

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Now, the giving instructions section was very well put together, I thought.

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Yes.

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This is one where language accuracy and coherence are the main issues.

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And you came to very clear conclusions on that.

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This is a really effective section, general points illustrated by lots of examples and a conclusion that made logical sense.

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Now, finally, let's have a quick look at your overall conclusions.

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OK.

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Now, you've included quite a bit in the main body about writing skills,

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but in fact you see listening skills as being a much bigger issue.

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Yes.

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As I say there, people don't pay enough attention to what other people say to them.

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And this leads to all kinds of communication problems.

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And the other big issue is grammatical accuracy, isn't it?

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Well, up to a point.

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But as I say, there are lots of instances where this is less of an issue than formal language.

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When people are in situations where this is required, they're often at a loss and end up not making much sense Yes, as you make clear Well,

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Beth, this is a good piece of work Well done Thanks

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Track 5 Unit 4 You will hear an expert giving a talk about blogs and blogging First,

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you have some time to look at questions 1 to 10.

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Now listen and answer questions 1 to 10.

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OK.

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I'm going to talk today about blogs and blogging.

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Though I'm assuming you're all familiar with what a blog is, let's just start with a definition.

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Perhaps the simplest definition is

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that a blog is a type of website in the form of a journal of one sort or another.

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It consists of posts, new material or entries,

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that are arranged in chronological order with the most recent post at the top of the page.

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Now, what are the typical characteristics of a blog?

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Well, blogs are usually written by one person.

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They are usually updated regularly, and they are often, though by no means always, about one particular topic.

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That topic might be the blogger's own life, as many blogs are personal diaries.

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But there are blogs on just about any topic you could think of.

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There are political blogs, news blogs, blogs about a particular hobby, etc., etc.

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Now, most blogs are not monologues

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because they allow readers to make their own comments on what appears in the blog

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or to add their own information to it.

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In this way, people get into contact with each other, learning from each other, sharing ideas,

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perhaps making friends or even doing business with each other, wherever they are in the world.

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Although blogs are very much part of modern life, and there are literally millions of blogs on the web, the history of blogging is a pretty short one.

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There is some disagreement over what the first blog was,

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but many people reckon it was an online diary started by a student called Justin Hall in 1994.

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His site was called Justin's Home Page, and he later called it Links from the Underground.

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At that point, the word blog didn't exist.

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More websites like his started to spring up, in the form of regularly updated online journals on various subjects,

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with links to other websites and forums for people to contribute their personal opinions.

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In 1997, someone called Jorn Barger first used the term weblog to categorize this kind of website

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when he launched his own website, Robot Wisdom.

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In 1999, a blogger called Peter Merholtz jokingly broke this word up into we blog and therefore invented the term blog.

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Pretty soon, everyone called the sites blogs and the people writing them bloggers.

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Okay, now let's move on to how to run a blog.

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And what I'm going to do now is to tell you

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what I think is the best approach to workflow with a blog.

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First of all, you need to decide on the frequency of your blog posts.

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Some people do several a day, which is great if you can keep it up Others, one a day

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Once a week might be enough

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But the key question is what the readers of your blog expect They need to know

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when they can expect to see a new post on the blog So whatever schedule you decide on,

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it's important to stick to it When you're going to do a post,

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start by reading material to find out what's being discussed in friends' blogs

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or in other blogs related to the topic of yours.

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That way, you can take these things into account to ensure that your blog is bang up to date.

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Then, start composing your blog post.

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If you're doing one that involves research and links, open a file for storing the sources of your information and the links you're going to put in the post.

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Also, consider using pictures.

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These can make your blog much more attractive than one that's just text.

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If you use photos from the web, make sure you cite the source in your blog.

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When you've completed the post, add some tags.

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If you don't have the kind of software that enables you to build them into the post, add them at the bottom.

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Tags are really important for searchability.

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They can get you new readers who find your blog via the tags.

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If you think this is a particularly good post and you're really proud of it, announce it by sending links to it on social networking sites,

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together with a very brief summary of what it's about.

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Then check your blog statistics to see how many people are reading and responding to your blog.

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Find out who's blogged about your post and reply to them.

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give them a proper reply rather than just saying thanks.

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After you've done all that, get off your own blog and comment elsewhere.

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Remember that you're not the only person blogging and putting out new material.

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There are lots of others doing the same, and you should show them some respect by giving them comments and feedback on their posts where you feel it's appropriate.

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Well, that's just some advice on being a good blogger.

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Blogging's obviously a major thing now in the world of electronic media, and it's anybody's guess how it will develop in the future.

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Track 6.

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Unit 5.

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You will hear a man who is interested in doing voluntary work connected with the environment

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talking to a woman who works for an organisation that runs environmental projects.

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First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 10.

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Now listen and answer questions 1 to 10.

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Hello.

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How can I help you?

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Well, I've come in because I want to volunteer for one of your environmental projects.

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I read something about your organisation in the paper a few days ago, and I thought I'd like to get involved.

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OK, that sounds good.

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What's your name?

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Ryan.

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OK, Ryan, thanks for coming in.

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I'm Hannah.

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Now, let me start by telling you something about our organisation, and then we can have a look at a few projects that might interest you,

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after I've found out a bit about you.

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Fine.

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Right.

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Well, as you know, we're called the volunteer agency, and that pretty well explains what we do.

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We recruit people for a wide range of projects.

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A lot of our work concerns environmental projects,

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and at the moment we've got 130,000 volunteers working on these projects.

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What sort of environmental projects are they?

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Well, for example, if you wanted to go abroad,

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one of our big projects involves gathering information that is used for the protection of marine and forest environments.

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Volunteers on that do diving or collect biodiversity data on tropical rainforest species.

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Sounds exciting.

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But I think I'd rather stay here, at least to start off with.

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OK.

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Well, here in our own country, we've got a big project aimed at clearing up litter in rural areas.

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The aim of this is to get everyone involved in making sure their local environment is clean and tidy.

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Yes, I've seen adverts for that.

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Another project involves looking after the National Cycle Network, keeping the route safe and attractive for cyclists.

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This is part of a bigger scheme concerned with developing sustainable transport systems all across the country.

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Interesting.

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Now, if you want to do something in the city rather than the countryside, within cities we also have the city farms projects,

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which involve working with people, plants and animals.

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Oh, what are those?

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Are they real farms?

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How do they work?

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Well, yes.

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They're real farms and they're an example of a project that relies almost entirely on volunteers.

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On other projects, you might be working alongside salaried people, but with these, almost everyone is unpaid.

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In fact, many of our projects have very few, if any, paid staff.

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Yes, that's what I thought.

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Well, do any of these things sound particularly appealing to you?

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Well, as I say, I wasn't thinking of going abroad

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and I'm not sure that any of those is exactly the sort of thing I'm really looking for.

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Sorry.

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That's OK.

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There are lots more things I can tell you about.

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I'm sure we'll find a project that's right up your street.

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Yes, I hope so.

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OK.

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Well, let's have a look at a few other possibilities.

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Right, well one thing that might suit you is a scheme called Wildlife Link.

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There are 47 branches of this around the country, with over 24,000 active volunteers,

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and it's involved in all aspects of nature conservation.

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Its aim is to protect wildlife in all habitats across the country.

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you can do there include looking after nature reserves, taking part in community gardening and carrying out surveys of wildlife species.

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Tell me, are you keen to be outdoors?

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Yes, I am.

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And that does sound like the sort of thing I might be really interested in.

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OK.

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Well, here's another project that you might like the sound of.

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This one's aimed at young people.

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Right.

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Tell me about that one.

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It's called Wildlife Watch and involves organising groups for young people, getting them to explore and learn about their local environment.

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There are over 300 groups and around 150,000 members of those groups.

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As well as running those groups and going out with them, there is a need for volunteers with administrative skills.

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Is that the sort of thing you might fancy?

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Maybe, but I think I'd probably prefer to be more hands-on, doing physical work.

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OK.

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Well then, the organisation called Action Earth might be the one for you.

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They've got a total of 908 projects, involving over 18,000 volunteers.

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They do all sorts of things, from planting trees to constructing fences and walls and collecting litter.

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their aim being to improve the local environment in all sorts of ways.

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How does that sound?

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I might well be interested in that.

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OK.

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Look, I'll give you some leaflets and contact information and you can have a think about it all.

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That sounds like a good idea.

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Thanks.

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Track 7.

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Unit 6.

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You will hear a manager in a museum talking to the staff about machines

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that are going to be put into the building.

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First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 10.

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Now listen and answer questions 1 to 10.

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OK.

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Now, what we need to discuss next is vending machines.

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Now that the building has been completely refurbished and we're going to be reopening, we should think of what kind of machines we need.

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These have two functions, of course.

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They provide services for visitors and they raise money.

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Every time someone buys something from the machine, we raise a little more money.

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Well, first of all, a cash machine seems like a good idea, so that people can get some money to spend

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while they're in the building

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and this will help to keep down queues in the gift shop if everyone is paying with cards.

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That can go in the entrance hall.

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We thought about putting it on the front wall outside the building but decided against that.

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Now we've also decided to install a ticket machine for the individual exhibitions in the various parts of the building.

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This will take some pressure off the ticket office

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and reduce the number of people hanging about in the entrance

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hall it'll be a simple device you select the exhibition

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and then pay for it in cash or by card

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and it'll be right next to the reception desk with a sign above it

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so that people can clearly see it when they arrive.

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Now the next machine lots of people might not approve of, a games machine for children to use.

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I know that this might not seem like the right sort of thing to have in a museum, but a constant complaint we get from visitors is

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that their visit is spoiled by the sound of bored children running around the corridors and shouting and generally disturbing the atmosphere.

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If we put a couple of these in the visitor centre, well away from the exhibition halls, it'll keep some of them occupied.

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Then there's the question of a drinks machine.

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Well, we want as many people as possible to buy our own food and drink in the cafeteria and restaurant.

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But at the same time, visitors will want something to drink when they're going round the museum and are not near to either of those places.

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We thought a good place for this would be by the lifts on the first floor, as people go up and down from one exhibition to another,

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and of course, that's also right at the top of the stairs.

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Now, the last thing is the drinks machine that we're putting in the staff room.

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As you'll be using this brand new state-of-the-art machine pretty frequently, I thought I'd just run through with you how it works

468

so here on the screen i've put up a picture of it

469

and i'll just tell you all how it works well it's pretty big

470

and you may be surprised to hear

471

that it can store as many as 495 drinks products

472

so there'll be plenty to choose from

473

and it won't need refilling too regularly right well it's got a glass front here

474

and behind it all the drinks of course the drinks come in bottles

475

and cans and they're of course refrigerated now this machine has an interesting feature

476

that i'm sure will entertain you all when you've chosen

477

and paid for your drink there's a special rapid pickup mechanism that grabs your drink and places it into the receiver here, which is illuminated.

478

So you can see your drink even if it's dark in here.

479

And that's not all.

480

Through the glass front, you can actually see the mechanism working.

481

There's a visible moving arm that gets and delivers the drink and you can see that happening.

482

Now, that's not just to make the machine interesting to look at while you're buying a drink.

483

it's got a serious advantage too.

484

What it does is to quickly and safely move the drink without it being shaken at all

485

so it won't bubble up or spill when you open it.

486

Now to the business of how you buy a drink.

487

How it works is that you choose the drink you want from the menu here

488

and then type in the code for that drink.

489

You'll see the code in front of each drink.

490

Then the price of the drink will be displayed here and you pay for it.

491

You can do that with coins or by card.

492

And you can order up to 10 products at a time.

493

For example, if you're getting drinks for a group of visitors or colleagues.

494

So, as I say, it's the very latest in drinks machine technology and I hope you'll all be pleased to have it.

495

Right.

496

Next, I'm going to move on to talk about...

497

Track 8, Unit 7.

498

You will hear two students talking about a presentation that one of them is going to give.

499

First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 10.

500

Now listen and answer questions 1 to 10.

501

Hi, Maya.

502

How are you getting on with your presentation?

503

Oh, hi, Jack.

504

It's going really well after a slow start.

505

What's it about again?

506

Well, the general topic area is human relationships and we had to choose a specific area within that.

507

So, what have you chosen?

508

Lifelong friendships.

509

Interesting.

510

What led you to choose that?

511

Well, it occurred to me that there's been a lot of research on how people form friendships

512

and even more on marriage and partnerships.

513

But there's not much on this particular topic.

514

So I thought I could do something a bit different by focusing on this particular aspect.

515

Sounds like a good idea.

516

How have you been doing your research?

517

Well, mainly by personal contact.

518

I realise that my parents have a number of lifelong friends, and of course, I've known them for years.

519

so I thought I'd start off by seeing what they had to say.

520

Sounds reasonable, but that's only a very small sample, isn't it?

521

Yes, but I thought I'd collate the results from that small sample

522

so that I could compare them with more general conclusions from research in the area.

523

Ah, good idea.

524

How did you get on when you tried to get information from your subjects?

525

Well, I started off by giving them a questionnaire.

526

Yeah, I spent quite some time working that out, deciding what aspects of their friendships I wanted them to focus on,

527

and then I handed it out to them. And?

528

Well, it didn't work out too well.

529

I kept asking for them back, and they kept saying they hadn't had time to do them or hadn't quite finished them,

530

and eventually one or two of them admitted that they were having trouble knowing what to put.

531

Oh, why's that?

532

They just couldn't analyse their friendships in that cold way, on paper, in nice, neat little paragraphs or by ticking boxes.

533

I realised then that they all felt that way, so I had to abandon that approach.

534

What did you do instead?

535

Personal interviews.

536

I adapted my questionnaire and sat down with each person and talked to them.

537

I got them to agree to my recording these interviews.

538

That way I could focus on the way the interview went rather than having to write notes all the time.

539

And then I went through the recordings.

540

And that worked out well?

541

Yes.

542

I got all the information I needed.

543

It was a small sample, as I say, but it was possible to get some general conclusions from them about their lifelong friendships.

544

And then you compared this with research data?

545

Yes.

546

There's not a lot of that, but I managed to locate some academic research in the area.

547

And how did that compare with your findings?

548

Remarkably similar, actually.

549

So my sample proved to be pretty representative.

550

There were one or two disparities here and there, but in general, the research I was able to locate pretty much confirmed what I found myself.

551

Hmm.

552

Now, when you do your presentation, how have you organised it?

553

Well, obviously I've given that a lot of thought,

554

and the various stages of the presentation are linked to the aspects I focused on when I was talking to my subjects.

555

So, obviously, I start with how the friendship was first formed.

556

For example, how old the people were, where they met, how they met, that kind of thing.

557

How will you present that?

558

I've created a table with the various headings and the percentages of my subjects whose friendships started in the various ways.

559

OK.

560

What comes next?

561

Well, I've looked at the effects on the friendship of various developments in the friends' lives.

562

The first category I've called change of location, and that deals with what happens in the friendship if one or other of the friends goes to live somewhere else.

563

What about if they don't change the place where they live but go to work or study somewhere else?

564

Well, that's included in my data in that category in a couple of separate tables.

565

What then?

566

OK, well then, I've looked at what happens to the friendship when one or both of the friends get married.

567

I got the subjects to say simply whether marriage meant that friendships got less close, closer or stayed much the same.

568

How have you presented that data?

569

That's a pie chart.

570

Oh, OK.

571

What other aspects of the friendship have you focused on?

572

Well, the next one concerns personality.

573

I asked people to tick boxes for their friend's personality when they first met, and then how they would describe the same person now.

574

How did you compare the answers there?

575

Yeah, that was tricky to work out.

576

I looked for patterns of change.

577

one finding from that was

578

that many people who were described as relaxed at the beginning of the friendship got categorised as stressed right now.

579

So for the presentation, I picked out the most extreme changes that I found.

580

Not every single change.

581

Sounds interesting.

582

Any other categories?

583

Yes, two more.

584

I thought it would be interesting to compare how much people

585

had in common in terms of political opinions as their friendship progressed over the years.

586

Did they both change them?

587

Or did one person change, and if so, did this cause tension or disagreement between them?

588

I've constructed another pie chart for that.

589

And the other category?

590

Yes.

591

I thought another key area concerned what the people have in common and whether they continue to have those things in common.

592

I've categorised this as shared interests, and I've looked at any changes that tend to happen over the years.

593

One thing I found, for example, was that men's shared passion for certain sports doesn't change at all over the years, whereas their musical tastes do.

594

Uh-huh.

595

All sounds great.

596

I'm sure it'll go well when you do the presentation.

597

Thanks.

598

I hope so.

599

Track nine.

600

Unit 8.

601

You will hear part of a lecture about the history of jeans.

602

First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 10.

603

Now listen and answer questions 1 to 10.

604

Okay, today we're looking at contemporary fashion icons as part of the module on the history and development of fashion.

605

And perhaps the best place to start with this is with a garment

606

that everybody in the world knows about and either wears or has worn, jeans.

607

Now, of course, jeans are often synonymous with the word denim for the material they're made from.

608

Where do both these terms come from?

609

Well, there isn't universal agreement on either of these things, but the story begins in Europe in the 1500s.

610

The general belief is that the word jeans comes from Genoa in Italy, where sailors wore clothes made from a material called jean.

611

The word denim is generally considered to come from France at roughly the same time.

612

It is thought to have evolved from Serge de Nîmes, a kind of material produced in the French town of Nîmes.

613

These two fabrics were different in important ways.

614

Denim was stronger and more expensive than jean, and denim was woven with one coloured thread and one white thread,

615

while jean was woven with two coloured threads.

616

To start with, the cloth for both of them was a mixture of things.

617

By the 18th century, however, it was made completely from cotton and it was dark blue because it was dyed with indigo,

618

which was taken from plants in the Americas and India.

619

Denim and jean remained two very different fabrics, and by the late 19th century,

620

it was denim that had emerged as the most popular and widely worn.

621

Denim was used for workers' clothes, for example, those worn by workers on plantations,

622

because it was very strong and it lasted for a a long time.

623

Gene was used for lighter clothes.

624

Eventually, of course, the word jeans would come to be used for clothes made from denim, but that's much later.

625

A key event in the history of jeans was the 1848 Gold Rush,

626

when gold was found in California and thousands of gold miners rushed there to find it and make their fortunes.

627

They wanted clothes that were strong and didn't tear easily.

628

Enter a man called Strauss.

629

He moved to California from New York and started a business supplying work clothes.

630

His first name was Leob, that's L-E-O-B.

631

Later, he changed it to Levi.

632

Now, the miners in California were experiencing a problem with their work clothes.

633

The pockets tore away from them very easily.

634

They just weren't strong enough or well enough attached.

635

In 1872, a man called Jacob Davis wrote to Strauss about an idea he'd had.

636

This was for metal rivets to hold the pockets and the rest of the garment together.

637

and he offered Strauss a deal to use this idea in the clothes he was supplying.

638

Strauss accepted the offer and started to make work clothes with these metal fasteners made of copper.

639

They weren't called jeans at this time.

640

That term didn't come into being until the 1960s.

641

They were sold as waist overalls and made with denim.

642

In 1886, Strauss added another feature to these clothes, a leather label.

643

To emphasise how strong the garments were, this showed a pair of these trousers being pulled between two horses.

644

The message was that they were so strong that even this could not cause them to tear. by the 1920s

645

because of their reputation for toughness strauss's waist overalls were the

646

most widely used workers trousers in the u.s now up until the 1930s jeans were purely

647

and simply work clothes but hollywood changed all that and they made the journey to being fashion items

648

The roots of this lie in the cowboy movies of the 1930s.

649

Cowboys often wore jeans in these movies, and American men wanted to dress like them in their free time.

650

At this point, jeans are a wholly American thing.

651

The Second World War in the 1940s took them abroad, as American soldiers wore them when they were off duty.

652

This introduced them to the wider world.

653

But their real popularity as a fashion item really starts in the 1950s when they caught on with young people.

654

This was because they became the symbol of the teenage rebel.

655

This completely new type of young person emerged in American films and TV programmes that were enormously popular with teenagers.

656

didn't call the clothes waist overalls they gave them a new name jean pants

657

and pretty soon this got abbreviated to jeans in the 1960s

658

jeans were the standard kind of trousers worn by students in western countries

659

and they were the top fashion item young people adapted them in all sorts of ways,

660

turning them into embroidered jeans by sewing brightly coloured designs onto them, and all sorts of styles emerged,

661

one of the main ones being flared jeans, with bottoms that got wider and wider as they went down.

662

Right.

663

Now I'm going to move on to look at what jeans symbolised,

664

both in Western countries and in non-Western countries at that time.

665

But first of all, does anyone have any questions?

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 665 sentences and 7283 words to shadow. The speech runs for 53:58. The speaker talks at a steady 135 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% 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
jeans noun	/d͡ʒiːnz/	A pair of trousers made from denim cotton.
friendship noun	/ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/	The condition of being friends.
denim noun	/ˈdɛnɪm/	A textile often made of cotton with a distinct diagonal pattern.
conclusion noun	/kənˈkluːʒən/	The end, finish, close or last part of something.
fitness noun	/ˈfɪt.nəs/	The condition of being fit, suitable or appropriate.
involve verb	/ɪnˈvɑlv/	To have (something) as a component or a related part; to comprise, to include.
volunteer noun	/ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/	One who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.
topic noun	/ˈtɑpɪk/	A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
workplace noun	/ˈwɝkˌpleɪs/	The place where someone works.
organisation noun	/ˈɔː.ɡə.naɪˌzeɪ.ʃən/	Non-Oxford British English and Australian standard spelling of organization.
presentation noun	/ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/	The act of presenting, or something presented.
compare verb	/kəmˈpɛɚ/	To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it…
jean noun	/d͡ʒiːn/	Denim.
reception noun	/ɹɪˈsɛp.ʃn̩/	The act of receiving.
litter noun	/ˈlɪt.ɚ/	Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
find out verb		To discover, as by asking or investigating.
work out verb	/ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/	To calculate.
go along verb		To participate, cooperate, or conform.
start off verb		To begin.
back up verb		To move backwards, especially for a vehicle to do so.
carry out verb	/ˈkæ.ɹi aʊt/	To hold while moving it out.
clear up verb	/klɪəˈɹʌp/	To clarify, to correct a misconception.
come across verb		To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 180 contractions and reduced forms, such as I've, I'm, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: thread /ˈθɹɛd/, leather /ˈlɛðɚ/, gather /ˈɡæðɚ/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: friendship /ˈfɹɛn(d)ʃɪp/, conclusion /kənˈkluːʒən/, organisation /ˈɔː.ɡə.naɪˌzeɪ.ʃən/, presentation /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/, reception /ɹɪˈsɛp.ʃn̩/
Long words — get the stress right: organisation /ˈɔː.ɡə.naɪˌzeɪ.ʃən/, interaction /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/, exhibition /ɛksɪˈbɪʃən/, initiative /ɪˈnɪʃ.ə.tɪv/, mechanism /ˈmɛk.ə.nɪ.zəm/

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 jeans, friendship, denim.

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	haven't been living
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has been done · has been written · I've only been
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	has been done · will be played · has been written
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	someone who doesn · room, which is · day, which is

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

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?