Shadowing Practice: How to Answer Any IELTS Question Fluently - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Many students prepare for IELTS speaking by memorising answers.
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But then the examiner changes the question and they freeze.
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Today I'm going to show you how to answer any IELTS speaking question fluently without memorising.
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Hello, it's Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy,
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here to help you become a confident speaker of English and today to answer any IELTS question fluently.
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Now, you may say, Keith, what's wrong with memorising?
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Yes, sure, I mean, memorise words, memorise phrases, collocations, but don't memorise whole answers.
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It's too much work.
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It's too much stress on your brain in the test.
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Also, the examiner knows and that brings down your score.
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It makes you sound robotic in the test, which is not good.
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Fluency is flexibility, not memorization.
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So to be honest, fluency comes from having a system of study over a long period of time.
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You need to make sure you're not studying the wrong way.
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Don't spend months and months studying the wrong way.
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You know, when I used to teach in a school face-to-face, I would see students wanting to improve their speaking, and they were in the library,
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looking at the books, reading, studying for hours.
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And now and again, I would ask, when do you actually speak?
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Oh, we have no chance to speak.
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So, of course, it doesn't work.
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Where's the fluency?
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Where's the flexibility?
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So today, I'm going to show you five things you can do
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that will help you answer any IELTS speaking question fluently and flexibly.
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This is in this video.
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There is then a part two,
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a second video, which I will put in my YouTube channel members area for members of the channel.
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If you want to join the YouTube channel, you can go to the link in the description for the price of a coffee each month get lots of extra videos, plus part two to this video,
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where I'm going to show you that system
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that you can follow to study so you can answer questions fluently and build long-term fluency for the rest of your life.
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How good is that?
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Right now, let's get into today's video, five things you can do to answer any question fluently.
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Number one, have a good mindset.
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Don't try to be perfect.
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everybody hesitates and pauses
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and needs time to think it's natural focus on communication not
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the perfect answer with fancy complex vocabulary focus on communicating your idea
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and remember in IELTS speaking there's no right or wrong answer there's no right or wrong opinion or idea,
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the examiner will only listen, pay attention to your language.
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So relax, believe in yourself, have that positive mindset.
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Number two, take your time.
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Don't follow the pace of the examiner.
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Some examiners speak really quickly.
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Hello, come in, sit down, what's your name?
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Don't try and keep up with the examiner.
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Take your time, speak at your pace.
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My name's Keith O'Hare.
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Right?
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So speak at your own pace.
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Be confident with silence.
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The examiner's silence and your silence.
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When they ask a question, So do you like cooking?
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Actually, yes, I do.
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I enjoy cooking.
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Be comfortable with that silence.
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And finally, everybody, even native speakers, need thinking time.
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Just time to get an idea and say something.
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So take your time.
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Number three, use phrasing. in your speech.
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Phrasing is the deliberate pause between phrases, right?
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Different from hesitation.
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Hesitation is like, well, to be honest, I prefer not to eat fast food.
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That's hesitation.
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Phrasing is where you pause after each chunk deliberately.
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So the examiner may ask, so do you like cooking?
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Well, to be honest, I prefer not to eat fast food, even though it's delicious.
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You see the difference?
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The pausing, the phrasing is where you chunk your phrases with natural pauses.
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How do you learn this?
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First of all, Now I've told you, when you listen to English, try and notice the phrasing.
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Notice where speakers, native speakers or proficient speakers, pause naturally.
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There's no rule for this.
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It goes with the flow.
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But you can start to pick it up by first noticing.
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Second, try shadowing.
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And then you'll be imitating these pauses.
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It takes time, but having that natural phrasing and pausing, deliberate pausing, helps you answer your questions much more fluently.
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Number four, connect your ideas.
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Remember, there's no right or wrong ideas or good or bad ideas.
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It doesn't matter, but you need to connect them so they float.
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And we use connectors to connect our ideas, right?
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You don't want the examiner going boom, boom, boom.
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What are you talking about?
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You want the examiner to follow you easily.
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Ah, okay, nice and fluent.
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So use connectors to connect your ideas, but use spoken connectors.
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So to give an opinion,
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I think I reckon give a reason because the reason I say so is to give a consequence or a result.
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So as a result of this, that's why to add information on top of that,
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I would also add And to give an example, let me give you an example.
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Natural spoken connectors help you become much more, well, express your ideas much more fluently.
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Let's move on.
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Number five, get into the flow.
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And this, it's a bit like a river or a stream flowing that when you're speaking after lots of speaking practice,
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not reading or memorizing, but speaking practice, it becomes easier to just flow.
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You speak and words flow and come out easily.
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And it is a matter of practice.
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If you can get into that flow, then follow it.
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And you know you can just feel, it becomes easy.
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The big mistake some students make they get into the flow and they start thinking, oh, I should use advanced vocabulary.
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Oh, better grammar, bigger grammar.
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And suddenly they stop and they slow down and they lose that flow and they make a mess.
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Get into the flow and stay there.
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Trust yourself to produce the language you're going to produce and going to need.
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Don't overthink.
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Just kind of let go of the grammar the vocabulary and get into the flow.
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So there you have it.
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Five tips to help you answer any IELTS speaking question fluently.
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Have a good mindset.
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Take your time.
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Use phrasing.
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Use connectors.
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Get into the flow.
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Now, the problem is tomorrow you might forget all of this.
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What you really need is a system to help you implement and use these ideas on a regular basis.
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So I've got a part two video which is in my YouTube channel members area.
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Join the YouTube channel, you get access to lots of extra videos each month as well as this video
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and in the part two video I'm going to show you how to learn chunks, how to structure your answers,
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how to practice and the system to do this on a regular basis
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so that after three months or so you'll be able to answer any IELTS speaking question fluently with flexibility.
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Not only that, but you'll have fluency for a lifetime.
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You can find the link to the second video in the description and the comments below.
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Remember, you do need to join the YouTube channel to do that.
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It's just $2 a month.
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also supports all the work I do on YouTube.
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So thank you so much if you join.
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Thank you for watching.
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As always, it's a pleasure being with you.
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All the best now.
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Take care.
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Keep practicing.
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Bye-bye.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 132 sentences and 1256 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:23. The speaker talks at a steady 121 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 |
|---|---|---|
| phrase noun | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | A short written or spoken expression. |
| pause noun | /pɔːz/ | A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation. |
| examiner noun | /əɡˈzæmɪnɚ/ | A person who investigates someone or something. |
| silence noun | /ˈsaɪ̯ləns/ | The absence of any sound. |
| connect verb | /kəˈnɛkt/ | To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object. |
| pace noun | /peɪs/ | A step taken with the foot. |
| boom verb | /bum/ | To make a loud, hollow, resonant sound. |
| grammar noun | /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ | A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general. |
| flexibility noun | /ˌflɛksɪˈbɪlɪti/ | The quality of being flexible, whether physically or metaphorically. |
| mindset noun | /ˈmaɪn(d)ˌsɛt/ | A way of thinking; an attitude or opinion, especially a habitual one. |
| 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. |
| chunk noun | /t͡ʃʌŋk/ | A part of something that has been separated; a generally squat, thick, irregular piece of something, e.g. wood or stone. |
| hesitation noun | /ˌhɛzɪˈteɪʃən/ | An act of hesitating |
| deliberate adjective | /dɪˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹət/ | Done on purpose; intentional. |
| naturally adverb | /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/ | In a natural manner. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bring down verb | To make (a ruler or government) lose their position of power. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| keep up with verb | To manage to remain beside or just behind someone or something that is moving away from one. | |
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. | |
| slow down verb | To decelerate. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 21 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, you'll. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: hesitation /ˌhɛzɪˈteɪʃən/, shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, delicious /dɪˈlɪ.ʃəs/, collocation /ˌkɑ.ləˈkeɪ.ʃən/, memorization /ˈmem(ə)ɹaɪˌzeɪʃn̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: examiner /əɡˈzæmɪnɚ/, flexibility /ˌflɛksɪˈbɪlɪti/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, hesitation /ˌhɛzɪˈteɪʃən/, deliberate /dɪˈlɪb.(ə.)ɹət/
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 phrase, pause, examiner.
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.