Shadowing Practice: How Good Is YOUR Part 2 IELTS Answer? Compare It to These - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Feeling ready for your IELTS speaking exam?
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Alright, let's test that.
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What if your part two question was, describe a person who has inspired you?
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Would you feel confident enough to give an answer that could actually get you a band nine?
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Well, by the end of this video,
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you might well be able to do exactly that because today we're going to listen to three answers to that exact question.
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One band five, one band seven and one band nine.
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All about one of Britain's most inspiring people, Sir David Attenborough.
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And together we'll break down exactly why each answer scores what it does.
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So you can start sounding more fluent, more natural and yes, more like a band nine speaker.
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Oh, and before I forget, I've made a free IELTS lesson pack
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that goes even deeper with five more part two questions with model answers and short exercises you can practice with at home.
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You can grab it by scanning the QR code on screen right now
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or you'll find it in the description box or the pinned comment below.
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All right let's start with the band five answer shall we?
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Okay so the cue card reads this.
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Describe a person who has inspired you.
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You should say who the person is, how you know them, what qualities they have,
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and explain how they inspire you.
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All right, so now let's go into the band five answer and then we'll analyze why it gets the mark it gets.
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Okay, so I'm now going to imitate somebody who is non-native trying
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to give an answer in the IELTS speaking exam who comes in around a band five.
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All right.
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Can you spot where their limitations lie?
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So I might say, I want to talk about David Attenborough,
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who is one of the most like famous nature people in the world.
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I think he's from England and he make documentaries about animals and the environment.
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I started watching his programs when I was like small and even now I still see him on Netflix or BBC.
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He's very old, almost 100 but he he still you know go around and record things which I find really
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inspiring what I really like is that he speak he speaks very calm and you can feel he really
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loves nature from his heart sometimes when he he talks about animals dying
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or or the earth getting worse I feel emotional it's not only like a tv guy
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but kind of like a teacher for the whole world
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because he tries to make people realize that we are destroying the planet
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so yeah i think he's um very special person
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and i hope i can do something similar in my life you know like
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help the planet uh like he does okay so
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that was the band five answer now let's go over why
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that would get a band five in my opinion by breaking down the marking criteria
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so first up we've got fluency and coherence um there's a lot of hesitation in the way that i did it
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there's some filler language like um like you know
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and self-correction I sometimes said he speak I should have said he speaks
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so that signals a lack of confidence in real-time speech the ideas are logical but the sentences often lose structure halfway through
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which is a classic feature of someone trying to express complex
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thoughts before they've built the fluency to hold them together
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which is a very common issue because for adult learners because
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if you think about it you have really sophisticated thoughts in your own language
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and very often you want to try and migrate those thoughts into this new foreign language.
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But really what we want to do until we get the fluency going, until we have the grammar down, we want to stay in our lane.
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We want to stay with some basic sentences using the correct grammar structure that we've learnt
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and not try to get too complicated too soon.
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Otherwise, yeah, it sounds discombobulated or it sounds,
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otherwise it sounds a little bit confusing
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because if you think about the journey of a native with any language as they grow up, they don't have sophisticated thoughts at the beginning.
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You know, a baby is not going to be talking about the political agenda of 2026.
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they're thinking milk that's it right i don't know how young we how old we are
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when we evolve beyond just milk poo sleep
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but you know we we gradually get more and more sophisticated thoughts
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and the vocabulary grows with us what we want to do is we want to try
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and mirror that
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so avoid trying to do two complex sentences basically all right let's now talk about grammar um there were some verb
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agreement errors.
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I think I said he make documentaries.
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I might have also said he speak very calmly.
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May have said speaks, can't remember.
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But that's the point that I'm making.
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Try not to make those grammar errors.
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And then some tense slips,
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like I started watch instead of I started watching or there was another one that I used the non-ing form.
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So those things you need to look out for.
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And then occasional sentence fragments or unfinished thoughts.
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Like he's not only like a TV guy, but dot, dot, dot.
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And I kind of didn't finish my thought very well.
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And again, what this shows is ambition without accuracy.
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And that's perfectly typical of a band five.
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The speaker's trying to stretch their English, but the grammar control just can't quite keep up. And then vocabulary.
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Actually, it wasn't too bad.
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Destroying the planet, for example, that was quite good.
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And then from his heart, emotional, inspiring.
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But some combinations were a little bit unnatural, like nature, people, the TV guy.
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That was weird.
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He speaks very calm instead of calmly.
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That's what we call collocational inaccuracy when words are understandable,
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but don't naturally fit together. And then pronunciation.
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This was sort of hard to do because of my accent.
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I didn't want to sort of mimic a non-native.
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It would be very varied, inaccurate and not very helpful for you, I don't think but uh yeah it could be
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that it was mostly clear but slightly uneven rhythm and stress patterns
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that would be the most common thing for a band five for example um he speak very calmly um
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if i was to say it like that
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that sounds really robotic right whereas
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if i said he speaks very calmly he speaks very calmly it's much more flowing
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so you'd expect that from a higher band than band five.
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So let's think about how to improve from these points.
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So slow down and structure ideas before you speak.
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You can sound more fluent simply by pausing strategically rather than filling space with um or like.
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And I think a native might pause after a so
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quite naturally so what i think makes an inspiring person is is is how they deliver themselves blah blah
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so i really paused after the so and after the verb to be is what i think is
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i think that's really normal like i would i would be
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very happy to wait for somebody to to pause at
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that point it's it doesn't signal to me
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that they're lacking in vocabulary it signals
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that they're thinking in a more profound way
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and collecting their thoughts before they want to deliver the next word of the sequence
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that they're about to say so yeah pausing there instead of using filler words.
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Going beyond that, you could practice high frequency collocations around familiar IELTS topics.
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For this one, you could say something like raise awareness of environmental issues.
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He raises the awareness or our awareness.
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He raises our awareness of environmental issues.
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Another one could be be passionate about protecting the planet.
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So he is passionate about protecting the planet or maybe dedicate one's life to nature conservation.
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Yeah.
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So think about those kind of phrases and then in the answer,
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you're more likely to deliver them in a more natural way in terms of collocations.
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Now, if you're thinking, all right, Charlie, that was super helpful for this question, but what about the other part two topics I might get?
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Well, don't worry, I've got you covered.
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I've put together a free PDF lesson pack with five more IELTS speaking part two questions, just like this one.
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And for each one, I give you a band five, band seven and band nine model answers,
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along with short explanations and mini exercises to help you build your own response.
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It's completely free.
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And honestly, it's one of the best ways to train your ear and your instinct for what sounds band five, band seven, band nine.
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You can grab it right now by scanning the QR code on screen right now.
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If you're listening on Spotify, then there is a video version of this.
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So open your screen and click video player or video episode, and then you'll be able to see my face, hello, and the QR code right now.
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So you could scan that, or you could click the link in the description box or show notes or the pinned comment below.
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That will take you to a quick sign up page.
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Pop your name and email in there and I'll send you the whole pack straight to your inbox.
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So if you're serious about pushing your IELTS speaking score higher and actually feeling confident in the exam, don't skip that part.
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This free guide gives you everything you need to train smarter and not harder.
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Okay, you ready for band seven now?
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We're leveling up now.
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So remember, the cue card says, describe a person who has inspired you.
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You should say who the person is, how you know them, what qualities they have, and explain how they inspire you.
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Okay, so let's hear what a band seven version of this answer would sound like.
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A person who has really inspired me is Sir David Attenborough,
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the British broadcaster and natural historian.
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He's been creating nature documentaries for, I think, more than 60 years now.
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And he's basically become the voice of the natural world.
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I first came across him when I was a child.
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My family used to watch Planet Earth
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and Blue Planet together on on Sunday evenings
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and even back then I remember feeling completely amazed by the way he spoke about animals and the environment.
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He didn't just describe what was happening, he made you feel it.
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I think that's one of the biggest talents.
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What I admire most is his calm, patient way of explaining quite complicated ideas.
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He never tries to sound too scientific or too emotional.
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It's this perfect balance that keeps people listening.
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And even though he's in his 90s now he's still working still traveling
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and still encouraging people to care about the planet and
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that kind of lifelong dedication really motivates me I also find it inspiring
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that he's managed to adapt with technology and a new generations he's on Netflix he uses
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social media clips he's constantly finding ways to reach people without losing his authenticity it shows
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that passion doesn't have to fade with age
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and whenever i watch his programs i end up thinking about my own choices
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that affect the environment so he makes he makes me want to live more responsibly
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and to find work that feels meaningful just like he does okay there we go
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band seven done so what did you think of that um
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if we were to break it down and think about the fluency
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and coherence this uh this version this sounds pretty confident and
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and keeps i kept a steady natural flow for nearly two minutes, which is exactly what examiners look for at band seven.
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And the ideas follow the cue card really well.
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Who is he?
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How do you know him?
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What are his qualities?
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And why does he inspire you?
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There's a clear topic development with smooth transitions first come across him or what I admire most,
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or I also find it inspiring.
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However, some phrasing still sounds slightly rehearsed phrases like voice of the natural world
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and and lifelong dedication they're good but they feel a bit memorized
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and it's tricky
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because i imagine you might think it's a great idea to to memorize a lot of um answers
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but i think the examiner can tell really easily like this
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is their job every single day they're listening to these answers
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so they will be able to cotton on to some of
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the best actors i'm sure um they they would just be able to know whether this is rehearsed
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or whether this is your organic vocabulary coming out in the now
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so to reach a band eight
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or above the delivery needs to sound a little more spontaneous with flexible rephrasing or familiar ideas.
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I'd say there's also a mild over-structuring of every paragraph.
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It sounds, it's almost too neat, almost like an essay.
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A native speaker would weave ideas together more conversationally with phrases like,
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and another thing I love about him, blah, blah, blah or you know it's funny
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because blah blah blah let's move on to vocabulary i think
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there was a very solid range we had documentaries environment authenticity
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lifelong dedication complicated ideas collocations they were pretty accurate like care about the planet
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reach people live more responsibly a few word choices are slightly textbook sounding
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encouraging people to care or quite complicated ideas they're safe and and clear but not idiomatic
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adding expressions like he's a national treasure
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or he's dedicated his life to raising awareness would push this to a band eight
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so overall electrical resource easily sits in the high
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band seven range it was varied appropriate but but still a little bit a little bit cautious
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moving on to grammar um there was there was strong control
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and visible complexity there was the present perfect continuous i think he's been creating documentaries yeah um then there were
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what's called as concessive clauses, meaning like introducing an alternative idea.
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So he said, even though he's in his 90s, blah, blah, blah.
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Or I can't remember if I said it.
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I said the point and then I said the contrary thing, even though he's in his 90s.
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But yeah, so that was quite nice.
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And then I also think I said, who has inspired me, who's inspired me, or which I find inspiring.
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And these are good clauses.
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I think they're called non-defining relative clauses, but they're good.
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They help.
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To reach band eight and above, the speaker should be able to show that they can vary clause types.
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Like having spent his whole life exploring the planet, he's become a symbol of curiosity and respect for nature.
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But yeah, overall, this is a strong band seven because the speech is fluent
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and easy to follow the vocabulary is precise
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and appropriate the grammar is complex and mostly accurate
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and you know depending on how I delivered it pronunciation is clear
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and natural to push higher the speaker needs to use more idiomatic or emotional phrasing.
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And then also vary sentence rhythm.
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So mix short emotional statements with longer reflective ones and loosen the structure to sound more spontaneous and conversational.
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But yeah, in short, band seven is very impressive, confident and meaningful, but it still plays things a little bit safe.
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All right, so band five and band seven done with.
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We're now going to go on to the gold standard, the band nine answer.
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Again, the cue card reads, describe a person who has inspired you.
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You should say who the person is, how you know them, what qualities they have and explain how they inspire you.
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All right, let's load up that band nine IELTS candidate.
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Well, I'd say the person who's inspired me most is Sir David Attenborough,
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who to me is almost like the voice of the planet.
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He's a British natural historian and broadcaster who's spent his entire life sharing the beauty of the natural world through documentaries.
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I've been watching his program since I was a kid, Planet Earth, the Blue Planet,
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Life on Earth, all of them.
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And I remember being completely mesmerized, not just by the footage, but by the way he spoke.
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His voice has this calm, reassuring tone that makes even the most terrifying scenes,
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like a crocodile attack, somehow sound poetic.
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But what I think really sets him apart is his ability to connect emotion with education.
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He doesn't preach, He just shows you the reality and you come away feeling both amazed and responsible.
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I think he's in his 90s now, yet he's still narrating, still campaigning for environmental change, which is just incredible.
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And I think what inspires me most is his consistency, that quiet determination to just keep going,
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even when the world seems a bit indifferent.
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he's um i think he's proof
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that passion doesn't fade with age every time i watch one of his documentaries i'm reminded
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that one person can make an enormous difference simply by caring deeply
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and um communicating clearly so yeah he's for me he's more than just a presenter he's
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someone who's genuinely changed how we see our planet.
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And that's a legacy anyone would be proud of. And scene.
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Okay.
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So that was band nine.
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What did you think about that one?
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If we look at the fluency and coherence, this answer, it flows, I would say kind of effortlessly.
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There's a natural rhythm and smooth progression of ideas.
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There's not really many awkward pauses, fillers, or self-corrections.
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I sound comfortable thinking in English, not just translating it.
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And transitions are subtle but cohesive.
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Like I've been watching his programs since I was a kid.
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What really sets him apart though, blah, blah, blah.
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And another one I think I said, I think what inspires me most is that's really natural.
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So notice how the phrasing feels conversational yet structured, like a natural story unfolding.
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It's not a memorized speech.
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And that's a hallmark of band nine fluency saying,
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well, I'd say this, that tone immediately sets the whole thing off.
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It sounds lived, casual and confident, something that native speakers do constantly.
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When it comes to the vocabulary, pretty good, pretty bloody good, right?
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And the precision of it.
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The vocabulary isn't just advanced,
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it's appropriate and expressive, like mesmerized or connect emotion with education.
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I think I said quiet determination and legacy anyone would be proud of.
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That phrase, it's not too fancy, but it's really natural.
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Then the idiomatic phrasing, He doesn't preach.
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Passion doesn't fade with age.
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And then one person can make an enormous difference.
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These feel really authentic and not forced.
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I sound like I understand connotation and tone.
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And importantly, none of it sounds like a thesaurus dump.
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It's all in service of meaning and emotion.
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And that's what separates a band nine from a band eight, the control and naturalness.
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As for grammar, complex structures are used, but they're used naturally, like a relative clause,
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like who spent his entire life sharing, blah, blah, blah.
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Or I like the bit when I said, even when the world seems a bit indifferent.
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That was a nice clause.
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um we used contrastive linking he doesn't preach he just shows you the reality
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that was quite good and then we had like um i think they're called inversions
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and modifiers like i said so yeah for me he's he's more than just a presenter
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and then there were i don't think there were any grammatical
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errors no awkward phrasing uh sentence rhythm was varied there were long reflective ideas balanced with short,
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punchy comments like, he's proof that passion doesn't fade with age.
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That variation gives the speech melody and realism.
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I think this is a band nine because it's effortlessly fluent, no hesitations, logical structure, engaging flow.
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There was sophisticated yet natural vocabulary.
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There was idiomatic usage and it was precise and expressive.
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Advanced grammar, there was good control of it.
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Complex forms used seamlessly.
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And then the authentic emotional tone sounded human, not rehearsed.
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So yeah, it doesn't sound like the user is doing an IELTS answer.
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It sounds like someone is inspired by somebody and they're wanting to tell you why.
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So there you have it.
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Three different ways of describing the same person from hesitant to confident to completely natural.
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If you found that useful, go and download the free PDF I mentioned earlier.
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It's packed with more model answers, detailed feedback and practical exercises to help you move closer to that band nine.
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And if you enjoyed this style of lesson, subscribe to the British English Podcast YouTube channel.
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I post weekly videos that help you sound more fluent, more natural and more confident in English.
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Give this video a like.
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Give it a like if it helped and let me know in the comments
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which IELTS topic you want me to cover next.
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And when you're done with that, check out my other IELTS speaking video all about hobbies and free time.
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It's full of natural British phrases you can drop straight into your own answers.
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So click that one next and I'll see you there.
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Bye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “How Good Is YOUR Part 2 IELTS Answer? Compare It to These”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: band, sound, answer, blah, natural. This video has 299 sentences and 3583 words to shadow. The speech runs for 27:07. The speaker talks at a steady 132 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| inspire verb | /ɪnˈspaɪə(ɹ)/ | To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by… |
| vocabulary noun | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning. |
| grammar noun | /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ | A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general. |
| fluency noun | /ˈfluːənsi/ | The quality of smoothness of flow. |
| clause noun | /klɔːz/ | A group of words that contains a subject and a verb; it may be part of a sentence or may constitute the whole sentence, depending on the syntax in each… |
| fluent adjective | /ˈfluənt/ | That flows; flowing, liquid. |
| calmly adverb | /ˈkɑː(ɹ)m.li/ | In a calm manner; coolly. |
| idiomatic adjective | /ˌɪd.iː.əˈmat.ɪk/ | Pertaining or conforming to idiom, the natural mode of expression of a language. |
| fade verb | /feɪd/ | To hit the ball with the shot called a fade. |
| pause noun | /pɔːz/ | A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation. |
| sophisticated adjective | Of a person: having obtained worldly experience, and lacking naiveté; cosmopolitan, worldly-wise. | |
| rhythm noun | /ˈɹɪð.əm/ | The variation of strong and weak elements (such as duration, accent) of sounds, notably in speech or music, over time; a beat or meter. |
| coherence noun | /koʊˈhɪɹ.ən(t)s/ | The quality of cohering, or being coherent; internal consistency. |
| collocation noun | /ˌkɑ.ləˈkeɪ.ʃən/ | The grouping or juxtaposition of things, especially words or sounds. |
| rehearse verb | /ɹɪˈhɝs/ | To repeat, as what has been already said; to tell over again; to recite. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| break down verb | To stop functioning. |
| come across verb | To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| come away verb | To become separated from something. |
| come out in verb | to be afflicted by (a visible disruption of the body) |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
| fit together verb | To put the appropriate parts of (something) into a whole; to combine pieces that go together to create a finished object. |
| go around verb | To move or spread from person to person. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- All right let's start with the band five answer shall we?
- Can you spot where their limitations lie?
- I think that's one of the biggest talents.
- How do you know him?
- What did you think about that one?
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 | I've been watching |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has inspired · I've made · they've built |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | person who has · somebody who is · minutes, which is |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is rehearsed · was varied · isn't just advanced |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 66 contractions and reduced forms, such as they're, doesn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/, authenticity /ɑθɛnˈtɪsɪti/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: collocation /ˌkɑ.ləˈkeɪ.ʃən/, dedication /ˌdɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/, emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, conversational /ˌkɒnvə(ɹ)ˈseɪʃənəl/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, idiomatic /ˌɪd.iː.əˈmat.ɪk/, collocation /ˌkɑ.ləˈkeɪ.ʃən/, dedication /ˌdɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/, conversational /ˌkɒnvə(ɹ)ˈseɪʃənəl/
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 inspire, vocabulary, grammar.
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.