Shadowing Practice: IELTS English Podcast - Speaking Topic: Family - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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hello students it's your ielts tutor jack and welcome back to another episode of the ielts plus english podcast
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hello students it's your ielts tutor jack and welcome back to another episode of the ielts plus english podcast
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[Music] today's topic is family and if you want to learn all about the
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family and get some wonderful keywords and expressions for today's podcast you know where to go www.jaxhyphenenglish.com i know you hear it every episode but i
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love you to go there and make the most of this free content also i would love it if you would like the podcast like the
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youtube video give me your comments say hi jack here's my answer to some question and subscribe to be part of the community
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in today's lesson i'm going to talk about family we're going to answer some ielts questions of course but i'd like
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to start off with a quick lesson for you this is something that's been on my mind recently from my current ielts students
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and i want to tell you about shallow answers versus deep answers shallow answers versus deep answers
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one of the problems i have with my students is they give me very shallow answers this doesn't mean that the answers are short
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it means that they stay on the surface of an answer rather than going into depth so let me give you
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an example answer so for example one of today's questions is how much time do you spend with your family
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here's a shallow answer i spend a lot of time with my family we eat dinner together we watch tv together
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sometimes we go hiking i like to play sports with my family i like to drink alcohol with my family sometimes i spend more time with my dad
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but at the weekend i spend more time with my mum that's a shallow answer now the length is okay
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but there is no elaboration elaboration to elaborate means to give more detail let me give you an example of a deep
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answer so again the question is how much time do you spend with your family i spend a lot of time with my family
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we eat dinner together in fact eating together is a really important part of our family we always make sure we gather
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particularly for dinner and sometimes we cook the food or we choose which food we're going to eat together and then we sit down and we spend the
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time chatting and enjoying at the moment together we also like to hike sometimes we hike around the local area
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or we we go further we go somewhere and we have hiking trips and i think hiking is a really important part of our family
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now did you notice the difference the the range of topics was narrower
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but the depth the detail was deeper so i'd like you to consider whether you are giving very
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wide but shallow answers or whether you are going into a nice amount of depth it's much more natural from a native speaker's point of view
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so and you can compare the two answers i gave which one did you prefer i i think most students prefer the sound of a deeper answer so that's my lesson
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for today keep that in mind for yourself and let's do some ielts questions i've already done one so let's just do another part one
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how often do you have family get-togethers well i live in korea so we have family
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get get-togethers once every two years of course this is not normal but i go back every two years and i really like
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to go back around christmas so that i can spend time with my family and do all of the kind of christmas traditions of course if i lived in england i would
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prefer to meet my family and have get-togethers perhaps once a month we'll see i will move back one day good okay let's go straight on to a part
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two so part two two minutes on the clock today's question is describe a family member that you get on well with
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two minutes on the clock i would like to tell you about my uncle chris when i was young
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i spent a lot of time with my uncle chris he was he came i think he came to our house
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a few times a year but when he came i really enjoyed spending time with him one of the things that really sticks out
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to me one that i remember is that he would also he was very passionate about birds bird watching
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um identifying birds and he bought me a bird watching book i believe he bought it for me and
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we he would talk about birds and and teach me about birds and teach me how to identify the different types then when he was gone i would read this
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book and i devoured this book i really enjoyed uh reading it and learning more about birds i so let me tell you a little more about
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my uncle chris i think he's a really passionate person about the things he's interested in which is
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mostly nature related um i don't particularly look like him you know
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certainly not a spitting image of him anyway um uh i think he i take after him in in my personality i
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think in some respects i'm a little bit quieter and i think he is too but we both really like chatting and socializing so i would say i take after him
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um of course he's part of my extended family he's my uncle on my mother's side in my opinion
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well he's a very important family member to me and i still really enjoy catching up with him every time i go back to england in
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the future when i move back to england i hope to spend more time with him and of course introduce my daughter chloe to him
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because i think uh there you go two minutes i was i was almost finished uh i hope i hope the answer was okay i was actually trying
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very hard to get some of the key words in there so i certainly got three in there um but uh yeah that was pretty well
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structured and i'm very happy let's move on to a part three is family important in your country
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yeah i think a family is important so of course i'm from england it's very important it depends on the family normally immediate family is very
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important and i know a lot of close-knit families so for these families it's really you know family gatherings
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special occasions kind of family traditions this is so important but i don't know i think things change
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and perhaps for some families uh they're growing more distant um there are sibling rivalries which break up
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families and yeah you just perhaps it's changing perhaps friends are becoming as important or even more
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important i know for me another very important thing is community so but to answer your question
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i would say uh family is important by the way that's quite an interesting phrase you can use as a kind of um
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a connective phrase for your conclusion which is to answer your question but to answer your question so that's you know
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it's a good transition from your the bulk of your answer your main answer to the the conclusion is to answer your question
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yes i think blah blah blah okay let's do uh one more part three uh is it better to grow up in a small
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family or a large extended family oh i don't know i would say my feeling is it's better to grow up in
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a large extended family the reason i say this is because i think just having a
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as i grow older i feel like community is more and more important and perhaps having a large extended family provide
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you with more of a community it allows you more people to talk to to
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spend time with to learn from perhaps we can learn more from our ancestors maybe more
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people in the extended family have knowledge about that um of course if a family is dysfunctional it doesn't
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matter whether you're small or large but overall i would say that a large extended family is preferable
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good okay so i was trying really hard to get the keywords in last topic last episode i i gave myself that
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target of hitting 10 and i this time i think i was getting close so i hope you enjoyed today's topic it's a good one it's an important one
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and uh don't forget hit that like button subscribe to join the community and uh say hello in the comments section i i will say hello back
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uh have a wonderful week this week i'll be back next week next week's topic is festivals and traditions so something i really enjoy talking about i hope you do
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too so come back to learn about festivals and traditions have a wonderful week study hard and see you soon bye
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[Music] [Applause]
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[Music]
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Context & Background
In the latest episode of the IELTS English Podcast, tutor Jack explores the important topic of family. Focused on enhancing students' speaking skills, he emphasizes the difference between shallow and deep answers. By illustrating this with relatable examples, he provides listeners with insights into how to respond effectively to common IELTS questions about family. The podcast serves as a resourceful tool for English learners, offering valuable keywords and expressions while promoting deeper conversational skills, crucial for performing well in IELTS speaking sections.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- I spend a lot of time with my family. - A simple way to express the importance of family time.
- Eating together is an essential part of our family. - Highlights the value of shared meals in family culture.
- I really enjoy spending time with my uncle. - A personal sentiment that can relate to many listeners.
- I take after him in personality. - A phrase used to show familial traits and characteristics.
- Family gatherings are significant for me. - A way to express cultural significance and bonding.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively enhance your speaking skills using this podcast episode, follow this shadowing guide. Shadowing involves listening and repeating what you hear to improve pronunciation, intonation, and fluency. Here’s how to tackle the difficulty of this specific video:
- Choose a Segment: Start by selecting a small segment of the video that discusses family.
- Listen Carefully: Pay close attention to Jack's intonation and the emotion in his voice. Notice how he emphasizes important points.
- Pause and Repeat: Use a shadowing app or your device's voice recorder. Repeat each sentence after Jack, mimicking not just the words but the style of delivery.
- Add Detail: After practicing with your podcast segment, try to expand on the shallow answers Jack provided. Think of personal experiences that can deepen your responses.
- Feedback Loop: Record your responses and compare them to the original audio. Note areas where you can improve your pronunciation and style.
This shadowspeak practice, especially when combined with tools like a shadowing app, will enhance your ability to learn English with YouTube efficiently. By regularly repeating and refining your answers, you’ll be able to present comprehensive, nuanced discussions about family and other important topics.
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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