Shadowing Practice: Complete PET (Preliminary for School) - Student Book - Unit 3 #PET #ieltsband4 #ieltsband5 - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Unit 3.
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45 sentences
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Unit 3.
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Listening, Part 4.
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Exercise 3.
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You'll hear a radio interview about a young photographer called Ryan Parilla.
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For each question, choose the correct answer.
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Today I'm talking to journalist Amy Ortega about the teenage photographer Ryan Parilla,
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who turned his hobby into a successful career.
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Why Amy did Ryan post his early pictures on Instagram?
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He knew other photographers usually try to have theirs published in magazines,
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but he hoped that with Instagram he could receive comments from across the world,
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getting to know people online and perhaps also in real life by travelling overseas.
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The result is he has become well known internationally,
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attracting the attention of companies from such as Nike,
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who have since given him work.
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Ryan has around 100,000 people following him on Instagram,
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with thousands of likes and comments for every photo.
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What does he most like to photograph?
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He recently took an amazing photo of birds following a ferry he was on while in Mexico.
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Ryan grew up in New York,
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and what he really loves is getting pictures of his city,
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its sights, and those who live there.
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He considers photography an art form because it lets him catch life and ordinary people through his own eyes.
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Which does he feel are his best photos?
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He's taken great photos from the roof of his 54-story Manhattan building just as the city's waking up.
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But the ones he's most proud of are those he hadn't intended to take until he suddenly saw something surprising,
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like a skateboarder flying through the air,
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and he knew it was the right moment for a picture.
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What kind of camera did he begin with?
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He's been taking photos since he was nine.
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Nowadays, he chooses from the latest models,
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but most of his early photos were taken with the camera on his sister's phone.
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Before that, though, he began with an old one belonging to his dad,
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which he'd found lying around in the house.
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By the age of 12,
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photography was changing his life.
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What happened when he was 12?
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He started taking photos around New York.
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At home, his dad noticed Ryan seemed to be on his computer,
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and he thought Ryan was playing video games,
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but actually he was busy teaching himself about photography and looking up information about it.
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What advice does Ryan have for other young photographers?
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He warns against choosing a particular type of photography just because it's cool,
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and instead advises them to do whatever brings them pleasure.
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He also believes that thinking you can't achieve what you want while you're young is a mistake.
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And Ryan's amazing career shows just how true that is.

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About This Lesson

In this lesson, learners will focus on listening and comprehension skills through a radio interview featuring Ryan Parilla, a young photographer who transformed his passion into a successful career. The exercise will enhance your ability to understand spoken English, identify key information, and explore themes such as creativity and ambition. By engaging with authentic material, learners will improve their IELTS speaking practice and overall fluency. This lesson reinforces the importance of personal interests in language learning and demonstrates how real-life stories can inspire and motivate.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • Hobby: An activity done for pleasure or relaxation.
  • Photography: The art or practice of taking and processing photographs.
  • Instagram: A social media platform used to share photos and videos.
  • Art form: A creative expression that conveys emotions or ideas.
  • Surprising moment: An unexpected event that can inspire creativity.
  • Self-taught: Learning a skill on one’s own without formal instruction.
  • Passion: Strong enthusiasm or interest in a particular subject.
  • Career: A profession or occupation pursued as a lifelong endeavor.

Practice Tips

To maximize your learning experience, consider using a shadowing app or engaging with a dedicated shadowing site to practice your listening and speaking skills. Listen carefully to the audio from the interview with Ryan Parilla, paying attention to his intonation and rhythm. The speech tempo is conversational, so try to mirror his tone and pronunciation when you repeat sentences. Focus on the emotions and ideas he expresses; this will enhance your English speaking practice and help you internalize new vocabulary. This technique of imitating the speaker is especially effective when learning English with YouTube content like this, making it easier to develop your fluency over time.

As you work through the material, remember to record yourself. Listening to your own voice will provide valuable feedback and help identify areas for improvement. Practicing regularly with authentic materials like interviews will not only contribute to better IELTS speaking practice but also enrich your understanding of cultural contexts and personal stories in the English language.

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.

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