Shadowing Practice: IELTS English Podcast - Speaking Topic: Urbanization - Learn English Speaking with Video

Hello students and welcome to the 40th and final episode of the IELTS Plus English Podcast.

We did it!

40 episodes.

So it's been going almost a year.

We've got all these wonderful topics and yeah, season one is wrapped up with this episode.

As I said, it is season one.

There will be a season two i'm still working on it

uh there's lots of things to do to prepare for that

but i hope you have enjoyed this season

and you've enjoyed all of the free content

which as always is available on www.jax-english.com or if you are in korea you can access the naiva cafe

uh yongook yongong jack's english

so um yeah it's it's a wonderful feeling to get to this episode it's been

so much work to do all of the free content

and then shoot these podcasts

but it's really been worth it uh my students here have enjoyed it

and it's really allowed me to connect to IELTS students around the world like yourself.

So 40 topics is done.

Of course, this is not every topic you can face in the IELTS exam

and definitely not everything that you can talk about in real life.

So I think you can just approach this as building your skills within this 40 topic curriculum

and then apply those skills to anything else you get.

So in the IELTS, I know you can get, I saw the sky, questions about the sky, questions about having a haircut and beauty,

park life, you know, what we do in the park, what are parks like.

So there's so many other topics you can do, but learn these 40 topics and apply it to other ones.

That's the best you can do.

And the same with the conversation.

the only ones that I really did leave out are the kind of controversial topics such as politics

and religion philosophy that kind of thing

so maybe I'll put something together as bonus episodes

so you can listen out for that

but now we're at the end of our season what was your favorite episode please let me know you know

if you are on YouTube put it in the comments or if you're on the podcast Let me know however you can.

For me, looking back, food was one of my favorite.

Of course, you know I love food.

So I really enjoyed talking about food.

And there was a few other ones, you know, like nation and culture.

That was an interesting one.

Homes was even surprisingly interesting.

And weather, which was last topic.

But yeah, maybe food was my favorite.

But today we have our last one, which is urbanization.

Urbanization.

So you may notice in the title or on the free handout that it's urbanization with an S.

This is the British spelling.

The American spelling is with a Z.

But anything is fine, whatever you're comfortable with.

So let's do our final topic.

And we'll do some part ones to warm up.

Do you live in a city?

Yes, I do.

I live in Seoul city in South Korea.

It's a very busy city, actually.

It's not the biggest city in the world, but the population density is very high.

question two how has your hometown changed in the past 10

years well um soul has changed a lot in the past

10 years um the transportation network has expanded a lot there's a lot more you know different restaurants

and coffee shops particularly chain restaurants chain coffee shops these uh

franchises and apart from that you know there's a lot of buildings being destroyed

and nowadays a lot of big apartments very tall apartments being built

so it's changed a lot in the past 10 years good

okay nice easy start um let's do a part two as always so we'll put the time on the clock

the question is describe a part of your city that has changed

so i'm going to put two minutes on the clock starting

now i'd like to tell you about my home district the

district where i live in seoul i first moved to my district uh

which is called gangdong district it's in the east of seoul i moved there five

or six years ago and at

that time to be honest it wasn't a particularly nice area

of Seoul it had a lot of what they're called villas

but in English British English it would be just small flats

it was not particularly developed the transportation system was okay but certainly there weren't many nice restaurants or coffee shops or bars.

So yeah, I wasn't excited to move to that district.

But after some time, and particularly over the last three years, there's been huge development.

And it's entirely different now.

So let me tell you a little more about my district nowadays.

Most importantly, there's a lot more restaurants and coffee shops, and that's changed the atmosphere of the district.

It feels less like a living place, a bit more commercial,

more entertainment that kind of thing and that's quite a nice feeling when you're on the high street

apart from that there a lot of the smaller flats have been destroyed

and they are being replaced by apartment complexes and

that makes a huge difference to the look of an area it makes it look more developed,

newer, and of course it does also mean the population is increasing in my district.

For me personally, I am happy with the way it's changing because there's a lot,

oh time flies, it's, I had a lot more to say actually.

Just a couple of notes there, so firstly

flat that is british english also high street

that is british english do you know what a high street

is a high street is the main street where all the shops

and restaurants are

so in england every town has a high street um in

a city there are several high streets sort of in each

district there would be a high street um i don't know what you call

that in american maybe a main street i don't know But yeah, we call it a high street.

So let's do some part threes.

Why do people choose to move from the countryside to the city?

Well, this is really talking about urbanization, which is a big part of Korea's...

It's kind of a social issue in Korea, where perhaps too many people are moving from the countryside to the city.

But I think the main reason is work.

100

because a lot of the good jobs are in the city.

101

A lot of the opportunities are in the city.

102

But on top of work, there's definitely education and entertainment,

103

hospitals, all of these different things that are very important for a good life.

104

For me personally, I'm not a fan of city life.

105

So I would rather not be a rural to urban migrant.

106

I'd like to be the opposite.

107

I'd quite like to migrate to the countryside.

108

But I can see the appeal for many people because they want safety and education, those kind of things.

109

Good.

110

OK, let's do another one.

111

I'll try and get some of these words in.

112

What are the negative impacts of people moving to the city?

113

Well, there are several negative impacts.

114

Of course, population density is a huge one.

115

Within the city, there are areas where there are more and more people.

116

It's causing traffic jams.

117

It's making some places, in my view, uninhabitable.

118

They are so serious with the amount of traffic and people.

119

And then, of course, there's famous landmarks

120

or shopping centers whatever it is they are getting busier

121

and busier the other thing is you get ghost towns in the countryside

122

and this is something we can see in korea which is where

123

so many people leave a town to move to the city

124

that the town becomes empty you know that there There are still houses, there are still shops, but no one is there.

125

So the ghost towns are another issue, particularly in this country.

126

Okay, let's do one more.

127

So the final question is, will cities continue to grow in the future?

128

Yes, I definitely think cities will continue to grow in the future.

129

One of the big issues we have here is, as with many cities, we have a green belt.

130

But although we do have a green belt, as far as I understand, the city is expanding into the green belt, which it shouldn't do.

131

On top of that, I think the facilities and opportunities in the countryside are going to continue to deteriorate.

132

And that's going to cause people to come to the city more.

133

I think there's going to be more and more reasons to come to the city.

134

I hope not.

135

I hope that things are done, that changes are made but I think it's pretty inevitable.

136

Good, okay, well, there we go.

137

Our 40th episode, I will say no more about that

138

but I do wanna say to everyone who has listened to multiple episodes and especially if you've listened to every episode,

139

I'm so grateful that you joined me.

140

I really appreciate you.

141

There's some students that leave a lot of comments.

142

I really appreciate that and any feedback is appreciated.

143

It means that I can improve, I can decide on new topics to cover.

144

So yeah, I really like to have connection with the students around the world.

145

As always, if you are on a podcast platform, please leave a review or a like, whatever you can do to help out.

146

And then if you're on YouTube, leave your comments, like, subscribe and become part of the IELTS Plus community because there's so much more coming.

147

You know, there's gonna be the next season, there's gonna be bonus episodes and of course other IELTS lessons, which I have plenty that I'm working on at the moment.

148

So I hope you have a wonderful spring.

149

We are in spring now, we're just breaking into spring.

150

I'm gonna take a little bit of a break.

151

You know, now that the season's finished, I'm gonna take a little bit of time to work on the next thing.

152

but have a great time don't stop studying you know what

153

to do review preview all of those things you must do and i will see you soon bye

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 153 sentences and 1745 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:03. The speaker talks at a steady 145 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% 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
topic noun	/ˈtɑpɪk/	A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
countryside noun	/ˈkʌn.tɹiˌsaɪd/	An area located outside of towns and cities; an area that is not urban or suburban; a rural area.
podcast noun	/ˈpɑdˌkæst/	A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on…
belt noun	/ˈbɛlt/	A band worn around the waist to hold clothing to one's body (usually pants), hold weapons (such as a gun or sword), or serve as a decorative piece of clothing.
bonus noun	/ˈbəʊ.nəs/	Something extra that is good; an added benefit.
clock noun	/klɑk/	A chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day.
ghost noun	/ɡoʊst/	A disembodied soul; a soul or spirit of a deceased person; a spirit appearing after death.
skill noun	/skɪl/	A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.
expand verb	/ɪkˈspænd/	To change (something) from a smaller form or size to a larger one; to spread out or lay open.
density noun	/ˈdɛn.sə.ti/	A measure of the mass of matter contained by a unit volume.
nowadays adverb	/ˈnaʊ.ə.deɪz/	At the present time; in the current era.
spelling noun	/ˈspɛl.ɪŋ/	The act, practice, ability, or subject of forming words with letters, or of reading the letters of words; orthography.
lesson noun	/ˈlɛs.ən/	A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided.
atmosphere noun	/ˈætməsˌfɪɹ/	The gases surrounding the Earth or any astronomical body.
connect verb	/kəˈnɛkt/	To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
help out verb		To provide assistance.
leave out verb		To omit, to not include, to neglect to mention.
look back verb		To think of (past events) in retrospect (in hindsight).
warm up verb	/ˌwɔː(ɹ)m ˈʌp/	To become warmer.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 36 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, gonna, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, controversial /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/
Long words — get the stress right: examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, controversial /ˌkɑn.tɹəˈvɝ.ʃəl/, curriculum /kəˈɹɪk.jə.ləm/, importantly /ɪmˈpɔɹ.tənt.li/, surprisingly /səˈpɹaɪzɪŋli/

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 topic, countryside, podcast.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is wrapped · is done · being destroyed
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have enjoyed · you've enjoyed · has changed
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	weather, which was · one, which is · urbanization, which is

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

Grammar in this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?