Shadowing Practice: IELTS Cambridge Book 15 Listening Test 4 Part 2 Questions with Audioscripts - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

B2
IELTS 15.
⏸ Paused
56 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
IELTS 15.
2
Test 4.
3
Part 2.
4
You will hear the chair of a committee on park facilities addressing her local town council about changes
5
that have been made to the park.
6
As Chair of the Town Council Subcommittee on Park Facilities,
7
I'd like to bring you up to date on some of the changes
8
that have been made recently to the Croft Valley Park.
9
So, if you could just take a look at the map I handed out,
10
let's begin with a general overview.
11
So, the basic arrangement of the park hasn't changed.
12
It still has two gates,
13
north and south, and a lake in the middle.
14
The cafe continues to serve an assortment of drinks and snacks,
15
and is still in the same place,
16
looking out over the lake and next to the old museum.
17
We're hoping to change the location of the toilets and bring them nearer to the centre of the park,
18
as they're a bit out of the way at present,
19
near the Adventure Playground, in the corner of your map.
20
The formal gardens have been replanted and should be at their best in a month or two.
21
They used to be behind the old museum,
22
but we've now used the space near the South Gate,
23
between the park boundary and the path that goes past the lake towards the old museum.
24
We have a new outdoor gym for adults and children,
25
which is already proving very popular.
26
It's by the glass houses,
27
just to the right of the path from the south gate.
28
You have to look for it,
29
as it's a bit hidden in the trees.
30
One very successful introduction has been our skateboard ramp.
31
It's in constant use during the evenings and holidays.
32
It's near the old museum,
33
at the end of a little path that leads off from the main path between the lake and the museum.
34
We've also introduced a new area for wildflowers to attract bees and butterflies.
35
It's on a bend in the path that goes round the east side of the lake,
36
just south of the Adventure Playground.
37
Now, let me tell you a bit more about some of the changes to Croft Valley Park.
38
One of our most exciting developments has been the Adventure Playground.
39
We were aware that we had nowhere for children to let off steam,
40
and decided to use our available funds to set up a
41
completely new facility in a large space to the north of the park.
42
It's open year-round, though it closes early in the winter months,
43
and entrance is completely free.
44
Children can choose whatever activities they want to do, irrespective of their age.
45
But we do ask adults not to leave them on their own there.
46
There are plenty of seats where parents can relax and keep an eye on their children at the same time.
47
Lastly, the glasshouses.
48
A huge amount of work has been done on them to repair the damage following the disastrous fire
49
that recently destroyed their western side.
50
Over £80,000 was spent on replacing the glass walls and the metal supports,
51
as well as the plants that had been destroyed,
52
although, unfortunately, the collection of tropical palm trees has proved too expensive to replace up to now.
53
At present, the glass houses are open from 10am to 3pm Mondays to Thursdays,
54
and it's hoped to extend this to the weekends soon.
55
We're grateful to all those who helped us by contributing their time and money to this achievement.
56
The gardens have really been a great day.

Download App

AI scoring for every sentence you speak

Scan To Download
Scan To Download
Download on theApp Store
Get it onGoogle Play
TRENDING

Popular

About This Lesson

In this listening practice session, you will focus on improving your English speaking skills by engaging with a real-world conversation about park facilities. The audio will feature a chairperson discussing recent changes made to Croft Valley Park. As you listen, you will gain insight into various aspects of community facilities while enhancing your comprehension skills. This lesson will support your english speaking practice by allowing you to absorb natural speech and improve your pronunciation.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • Park facilities - Amenities available in a park, such as toilets, cafes, and playgrounds.
  • Replanting - The process of planting new plants or flowers in a garden or park.
  • Outdoor gym - A fitness area available in open air, equipped with exercise machines.
  • Skateboard ramp - A structure designed for skateboarding, allowing users to perform tricks.
  • Adventure Playground - A designated space for children to engage in adventurous play activities.
  • Wildflowers - Naturally occurring flowers, often planted to support biodiversity.
  • Glasshouses - Structures made of glass for growing plants, often used in parks.

Practice Tips

To maximize your learning during this session, consider using a shadowing site approach, where you listen to the audio and repeat what you hear in real-time. The speaker in this transcript talks at a moderate pace, making it suitable for shadow speech. Follow these steps:

  • Listen first: Focus on understanding the main ideas without repeating.
  • Shadow speak: On your second listen, try to mimic the speaker's intonation and rhythm. This helps improve your fluency and pronunciation.
  • Break it down: Divide the audio into manageable sections. Listen to a sentence or two, pause, and then repeat.
  • Record yourself: After shadowing, record your own voice. Play it back to identify areas for improvement.
  • Focus on vocabulary: Pay special attention to key phrases and vocabulary mentioned in the lesson. Use them in your own sentences to enhance retention.

Engaging with this material will not only improve your speaking skills but also your confidence in using English in everyday conversations. Remember, practice makes perfect—embracing the shadowspeaks technique will help you sound more like a native speaker over time.

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.

☕ Buy us a coffee