Shadowing Practice: IELTS English Podcast - Speaking Topic: Sport - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
C1
Hello everyone, I'm your IELTS tutor Jack and welcome back to another episode of the IELTS Plus English podcast.
170 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
Hello everyone, I'm your IELTS tutor Jack and welcome back to another episode of the IELTS Plus English podcast.
2
We had another tough topic last week.
3
We were doing society and although it was tough,
4
as I said, I did really enjoy it.
5
I like talking about society,
6
but we do have a bit of a breather today and that is sport.
7
I love sport.
8
I love playing.
9
I love watching.
10
It's a pretty big part of my life.
11
You know, it's really up there with kind of food and culture, society.
12
These are some of my real interests in my life.
13
So I'm looking forward to today's podcast as well.
14
Now, of course, before we start,
15
handout, you need it for studying very useful 10 vocabulary and expressions and that's available on www.jax-english.com
16
and before we get into the questions let's have a quick
17
chat what is your sport what's the sport you're really interested
18
in of course for me football is a big part of my life growing up in England.
19
Football is a huge thing that I watch and play.
20
But recently, I've got back into boxing.
21
Now, I don't know how you feel about boxing.
22
Some people think it's very violent, which I totally understand.
23
But I really do it for my fitness.
24
And I'm a huge fan of boxing.
25
I don't really watch it much.
26
You know, I don't watch the big fights.
27
I'm not really into that.
28
But doing it is so much fun.
29
I restarted it this year.
30
It's something that I did a lot five years ago,
31
so I'm super excited and really enjoying it.
32
So that's my sport.
33
Let me know about you.
34
What is your sport, the sport you're really into?
35
If you're on YouTube, let me know in the comments.
36
I'd love to hear from you.
37
So let's do our first part one, I'll ask question.
38
That is,
39
what are your favorite sports nice easy start what are your
40
favorite sports uh i would say my favorite sports are football uh
41
and boxing
42
because they are the biggest sports in my life for me
43
boxing is what i do in my free time as a hobby i took it up this year
44
and football is something i watch and i'm involved with in terms of looking at the news and just being a spectator
45
good clean start do you prefer individual or team sports
46
hmm i i don't know if i have a preference really but when I think about myself,
47
I've always been involved in individual sports.
48
So perhaps that's my favourite.
49
Golf was a huge part of my life,
50
and I still love golf, by the way.
51
And now, of course, boxing.
52
And these are both individual sports,
53
but for being a spectator and watching sports,
54
team sports are a huge interest for me.
55
Okay, part two.
56
So part two this time,
57
and it's not a hard one,
58
is describe a popular sport in your country.
59
So I've prepared two minutes.
60
Describe a popular sport in your country.
61
Time starts now.
62
I'd like to tell you about football
63
when I was young I played a lot of football it
64
was a huge part of my life in terms of actually doing it every day we would,
65
after school we would meet up in the park
66
and have sometimes huge team games it was a big part of the community
67
and the neighbourhood and all of the neighbours' kids came and we played these big games And then,
68
you know, in school, in our break time, we played.
69
As soon as that bell rang,
70
we'd run out and play football for the hour.
71
So, yeah, it's something you grow up with in England as a massive part of your life.
72
And then, of course, that could transition into it being a job.
73
So you actually become a footballer or,
74
as is the case with most people,
75
When you get a job,
76
you're doing these Sunday league games.
77
So there's a lot of this kind of amateur competitions that are very easy to find.
78
So it's a huge part of the society, actually.
79
So let me tell you a little more about football.
80
In England, football is throughout society very important.
81
and you can start at a very young age and there's leagues all the way until you're a very old age.
82
You know, there's retired leagues,
83
you know, leagues for people over 60.
84
Also for being a spectator,
85
for watching football, it's very important to,
86
you know, go to pubs and watch the game with the community,
87
watch it at home.
88
I think the majority of people in England watch one or two football games a week.
89
So yeah, it's such a big part of daily life.
90
For me personally, it was a huge part of my life,
91
as I said, and I played it...
92
Okay, stop there.
93
Not a bad answer.
94
I think I was repeating myself a little bit,
95
which I don't like doing.
96
By the way, if you have a problem with that,
97
if you feel like you're just constantly repeating yourself,
98
just try to make sure that when you talk about the past,
99
make it about you.
100
So football is my topic,
101
but I'm talking about my experience with football,
102
my story about football then
103
when you transition to describing football as i did then make
104
the topic football what is football in england what you know
105
how can we see football what do people do with football
106
so you're changing the subject which means that you're less likely to repeat yourself
107
if you're struggling with that please go to my youtube channel and check out the video
108
where I teach you how to do an IELTS part two answer.
109
I do have a video on that.
110
Good.
111
Okay, let's do some part threes.
112
Is it important for people to engage in sports?
113
I think it's really important for people to engage in sports for a number of reasons.
114
Number one is for health.
115
I think that, yes, it's great to go to the gym
116
and to do home workouts and things like that but
117
when you have a sport to focus on
118
that makes it much easier to maintain your health maintain your weight
119
so i think sports are very useful for that also for mental health
120
and community
121
and socializing i think sport is very important as well it
122
gets you into a new community of people who have something in common
123
so it's great for building a network in my case I've this year I restarted boxing
124
and I joined a new club with new I don't know anyone there
125
and already I am making new friends and finding these interesting people
126
that I wouldn't have met good okay I liked the answer
127
because i gave quite a lot of detail
128
and i gave a quick example as well a very specific
129
example i really like to include examples good okay next question
130
how can parents encourage their children to do more sports well
131
that's quite a tough question for me um it's not something i've really thought about
132
but of course I suppose the parents being interested in sport themselves would be very useful
133
so in my case I really am passionate about sport particularly football boxing as I said
134
and golf and I think that that passion that I have and the fact that I will continue doing sport
135
would hopefully rub off on my daughter and she would naturally have a curiosity to play sport.
136
I think if you have a very passive lifestyle and you don't engage in sports,
137
perhaps that would rub off on your child as well and they'd be less likely to do sport.
138
So, yeah, I think perhaps that's the most important thing.
139
good okay well i tell you what i'm not doing very well today
140
and that is including some vocabulary
141
so let's try to include some more in my final answer do you agree
142
that sports stars earn too much money oh that's a really
143
debatable point i'm going to say on the whole yes i would say they earn too much
144
but there's really two sides to that.
145
Firstly they deserve to earn a lot of money
146
because sport is generally strenuous and in a lot of sports the time frame
147
that you can actually do the sport is short.
148
A lot of people retire when they're 30 or 35.
149
I'm 35 so I can't imagine retiring now so it's very important
150
that we recognize
151
that um as i said uh you know sports are strenuous
152
they require a lot of stamina people can injure themselves
153
so i think we we have to recognize
154
that with a higher level of pay however when we're talking about someone like ronaldo earning a million dollars a week,
155
perhaps that's a little beyond a lot of money.
156
That is an enormous amount of money and too much for what he does.
157
Perhaps.
158
Very debatable.
159
Okay, I think that's good and I definitely included a lot more vocabulary.
160
So I think we did four or five words from the list this week.
161
A topic that I'm very comfortable with,
162
I'd be happy chatting about this all day long.
163
I really enjoy it but unfortunately i can't do that
164
because it's a podcast and you'll be bored
165
so i hope you enjoyed today's episode and i will be back next week with the topic
166
oh technology technology should be interesting
167
so thank you for watching today don't forget like subscribe do whatever you can to support me
168
and join the arts plus community i very much look forward
169
to next lesson talking about technology one of my real favorite subjects as well
170
so have a good week and i'll see you next wednesday bye
Download App
AI scoring for every sentence you speak
TRENDING
Popular
Why Practice Speaking with This Video?
Engaging with the "IELTS English Podcast - Speaking Topic: Sport" is a wonderful opportunity for English learners to enhance their speaking skills in a fun and relatable context. Sports evoke strong emotions and opinions, making them an ideal topic for discussion and practice. By discussing sports, you can articulate your thoughts, preferences, and experiences, which helps develop fluency and confidence in English.
Moreover, as you listen to the podcast, you can incorporate shadow speech techniques, where you mimic the instructor's pronunciation and rhythm. This method boosts your English speaking practice by allowing you to concentrate on both content and delivery. Whether it’s discussing your favorite sports or debating between team versus individual sports, this interactive practice can significantly improve your expressive capabilities in English.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
While listening to Jack, you’ll notice how certain grammatical structures can be effectively utilized in conversation. Here are a few key structures to focus on:
- Simple Present Tense: Jack frequently uses the simple present tense to express his regular habits, such as "I love sport." This structure is vital in speaking to discuss likes, dislikes, and routines.
- Preference Expressions: Phrases like "I don’t know if I have a preference" are straightforward yet effective ways to convey uncertainty or lack of preference about a subject. This can be useful when engaging in discussions.
- Phrasal Verbs: Notice the use of "took it up" in reference to starting boxing again. Phrasal verbs are common in conversational English and can enrich your vocabulary.
Utilizing these structures in your own speech will enhance your ability to communicate more naturally and fluently.
Common Pronunciation Traps
Pronunciation can often hinder effective communication. In this video, specific words and phrases might pose challenges:
- Important Vocabulary: Words such as “football” and “boxing” might be pronounced differently based on your native language. Be mindful of how Jack emphasizes the second syllable in “box-ing.”
- Intonation Patterns: Pay attention to Jack's intonation when expressing enthusiasm towards sports. This can improve your own ability to convey excitement or opinions in conversation.
- Shadowing Technique: Practice the shadowing technique by repeating the phrases immediately after Jack, focusing on mimicking not just words but also the rhythm and tone of his speech. This can significantly boost your listening and speaking skills.
By actively engaging with the podcast using these strategies, along with a dedicated shadowing app, you can refine your pronunciation and make your speech clearer and more engaging.
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
ShadowingEnglish remains 100% free thanks to your support. Server and AI costs are high — your coffee keeps us going! 🙏