Shadowing Practice: IELTS LISTENING ACTUAL TEST 6-4 - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Test 3.
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You will hear a number of different recordings and you will have to answer questions on what you hear.
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There will be time for you to read the instructions and questions and you will have a chance to check your work.
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All the recordings will be played once only.
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The test is in four sections.
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At the end of the test, you will be given 10 minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet.
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Now turn to section 1.
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Section 1.
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You will hear a survey company representative ringing a person to obtain some information.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 5.
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You will see that there is an example that has been done for you.
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On this occasion only, the conversation relating to this will be played first.
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Hello?
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Hello?
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Who is this?
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Hello, I'm a representative of the Tallyho Survey Company and I'd like to ask you a few questions regarding exercise.
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Ah, that's an interesting subject.
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The representative will ask questions about exercise, so exercise has been written in the space.
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Now we shall begin.
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You should answer the questions as you listen because you will not hear the recording a second time.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 5.
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Hello?
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Hello?
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Who is this?
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Hello!
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I'm a representative of the Tallyho Survey Company and I'd like to ask you a few questions regarding exercise.
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Ah, that's an interesting subject.
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Yes, we think so too.
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But I'm afraid I'm a bit busy at the moment.
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Don't worry, this will only take about four minutes at the most.
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It's 10 .25 now, so it will all be over by 10 .30.
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Well, alright, if it's that short.
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It will be.
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So, one of the first things I need to know is where you are, that is, which suburb or area of the city.
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The last client was in Blackburn, for example.
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Blackburn?
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That's close to me.
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I'm in Box Hill.
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Another eastern suburb, then.
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I have a friend in Box Hill, too.
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Interesting place.
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Now, I need your approximate age for this survey.
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Are you younger than 20, between 20 and 29, 30 and 39, and so on?
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I'll turn 40 in a few months, so that puts me in the 40 to 49 age group.
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Well, that's in a few months, so right now you're in the 30 to 39.
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Oh, right.
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So put that then.
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OK.
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Now, I need to know your occupation.
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The last caller was a housewife, for example.
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The one before that, a teacher.
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I used to be a teacher too, teaching cookery. And now?
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Now you can just put domestic duties.
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Actually, I hope to begin a new job soon as a cook, but that won't be for some time yet.
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I have to wait for my husband's restaurant to open.
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Cook?
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That sounds interesting.
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But it's domestic duties for now.
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OK, that just leaves some information about your family.
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This is not obligatory at all, so if you don't want to answer, that's fine.
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What sort of information exactly?
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Oh, it's very broad.
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Married with children, single mother, that sort of thing.
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The last customer said she was a single mother.
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I'm married and not a mother put married no children I'm married with children myself
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but I'll put in your details and that finishes the profile
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and just leaves the actual survey itself if you're ready to proceed
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Before you hear the rest of the conversation you have some time to look at questions 6 to 10
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Now listen and answer questions 6 to 10.
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Alright, let's begin the survey now about your exercise habits.
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I'm afraid I don't exercise much at all.
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Well, the main question is in what form you take your exercise, however little that may be.
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For example, in just cleaning, do you clean the house?
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My husband does the cleaning actually, but I walk to the supermarket and shops very often, up to four times a week.
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I'll put that then, unless there's something else.
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Nothing else, really.
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But I diet.
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I'm very strict about what I eat.
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Oh, and I do yoga, although that's not very energetic.
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More a form of relaxation and to tighten my muscles.
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They're both important, of course.
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But what about sport?
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Do you undertake any sporting activities?
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This could be very infrequent.
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In the past, for example.
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My husband plays basketball at the local school and I sometimes watch.
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When he was younger, he was in a basketball team, but I never participated.
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Have you done anything at all?
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I used to hike in a nearby national park.
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Well, that's a definite physical activity, so I'll put that, but not basketball.
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All right, that just leaves future exercise intentions.
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Do you plan or expect to do, at some stage, any form of exercise?
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I once dreamt of doing modern dance, but that's never going to happen.
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Realistically, I'm thinking about going swimming at the local aquatic centre, although my husband thinks we should just jog.
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I can't see myself doing that, though.
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Too tiring.
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I can understand.
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I used to jog, too, and it really makes you sweat.
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I'd say swimming's a much better option.
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But I'll be starting this job as a cook in my husband's restaurant.
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I imagine I'll be very tired doing all those late shifts.
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But if I have any energy left over, I might go to the Aquatic Centre to release some stress.
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All right.
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Well, that's the end of the survey.
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Thank you very much for your time.
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That is the end of Section 1.
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You now have half a minute to check your answers.
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Now turn to Section 2.
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Section 2.
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You will hear the director of a language centre library explaining about its facilities to some new students.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 16.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 16.
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Welcome to the library, or the ILC, which means Independent Learning Centre, and let me explain about some of its facilities.
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We're standing here at the entry gates next to the borrowing desk, that's where you check out any books,
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but you are also advised to study in the library here, since most of our material cannot be borrowed.
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Thus we have seating along the middle of the library, and in
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that far corner in front of us on the left we have the quiet reading section for some serious reading activity.
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We used to have the computers there, but then realised that that corner was very quiet and thus better suited for the purpose it now has.
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The computers were instead shifted to a more central location, right beside us here on the left.
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Again, somewhat confusingly, this area once housed the newspaper and magazine section,
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but the people in the quiet reading area had to walk too far to collect this literature, so it was moved to right beside them in the adjacent corner.
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So feel free to read the newspapers there, but the reference books, those huge weighty dictionaries,
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atlases and encyclopedias were all situated at the opposite end of the building, against the wall.
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This was because they weren't generally that popular, and we wanted more space for the magazine racks, always a favourite with readers.
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Okay, as well as reading, you need to work on your listening skills, and for that you need the audio section.
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Again, such an activity needs a quiet area, so we put this in the last remaining corner up there on your right, as you can see.
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There are CD players and headphones, so just borrow the listening packs, sit down there and listen away.
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Right, that just leaves the main library.
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In other libraries, that's often right beside the newspaper and magazine section,
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allowing freedom to choose from all genres of literature but here we've got them further apart.
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For the main library just follow your nose past the central seating there
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and it's there among all that shelving upon which you'll find an abundance of interesting books and listening packs to use.
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Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 17 to 20.
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Now listen and answer questions 17 to 20.
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Now, I'd like to tell you a bit more about an excellent service offered in the ILC here
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that we call the Special Sessions.
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What can you do in them?
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For a start, many of you need practice in speaking English, and for that we hold a special Discussion Session, led by a teacher.
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That can be noisy.
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In fact, we hope that it is noisy, since that would mean many people are talking.
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It's in the central seating area, and it used to be from 10 .30 to 1 .30,
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but we found that the noise was disturbing the regular ILC patrons
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so we shortened and moved this discussion to the morning 9am time slot when fewer people are in the centre.
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It goes for one and a half hours.
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Alright, what about writing skills?
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Well, we can help you there with another teacher.
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Now, writing is a fairly quiet activity so that teacher stations him
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or herself in the quiet reading area from 1 .30 until 3 .00.
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The 10 .30 to midday time slot cannot have a teacher
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for such writing skills as they are all teaching in the morning.
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For this reason, of course, there cannot be an on -call teacher in the morning either.
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Although many people would like one, particularly the 10 .30 to noon crowd, having just finished their early morning class.
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These students all have to wait until midday onwards, when, for three hours, a teacher will be stationed in the audio section,
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ready to deal with all those questions.
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Until recently, we had another teacher doing the 3pm to 6pm time slot in the central seating,
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but all the noise interfered with the late users of the ILC, so we had to cancel that.
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Also noisy can be the language exchange, where local students who want to learn your language will help you practice English.
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This is generally done in pairs, so the noise level is low enough not to need this exchange to run at 9am,
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but at the more congenial time of 10 .30, among the central seating.
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That must finish by 1 .30 though, after which quieter and more individual activities take place
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that is the end of section 2 you now have half a minute to check your answers
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now turn to section 3 Section 3 You will hear two students,
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Dylan and Emily, discussing the techniques they use when listening to lectures.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24.
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Hi, Emily.
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What did you think of that lecture?
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A bit hard to follow, but I have some good lecture listening note -taking strategies which really help, so I can review the lecturer's message later.
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Lecture listening note -taking strategies?
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Review it later?
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That sounds interesting.
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I must admit, I struggle a bit to take down the gist of what I hear.
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Look at my notes.
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Well, I can see a basic problem immediately.
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You're writing full words, such as century, when all you need is a C.
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And don't write increase, just draw an up arrow.
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And why write thousand when a TH will do?
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I see.
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Just use symbols.
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That's not a bad idea at all.
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It's the most basic strategy, allowing you to record information at a faster pace.
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These lecturers can talk faster than others too, so you don't want to waste any time.
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But you need to be very familiar with your set of symbols.
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Why?
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Because you'll have to look at these notes days, weeks or even months afterwards when you begin writing your essay.
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So you'll need to be able to interpret them at a later stage.
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I think I can do this.
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Even by looking at your notes.
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Imed must mean immediately.
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But regarding the lecture as a whole...
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I knew the professor would be giving a set of specific recommendations and comparing two alternative approaches, so I formatted my page in advance,
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adding the features consistent with the nature of what I was going to hear.
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Err, I think I need an example of what you mean.
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Well, look at my page.
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Before the lecture, I drew large headings saying recommendations.
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You should always draw these and I drew a table saying Approach 1 and Approach 2.
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At the end, I drew a flowchart, as obviously the final recommendation would be a step -by -step approach.
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Then I was prepared in advance to simply fill in the spaces.
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Wow!
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Now that's clever!
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Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30.
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Now listen and answer questions 25 to 30.
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Your advice about note -taking sounds great, but I still have one question, Emily.
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How are you able to design your page in advance?
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I mean, how can you predict the nature of the talk and know which design is likely to work best?
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it's rather obvious when you think about it what's your next lecture about legal studies well
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that suggests to me
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that you'll need a flow chart since the judicial system has a very logical do this first do
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that second approach which must be followed in
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that order you know all the processes that happen in the courtroom
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and the procedures that must take place to ensure complete legality Sure, that's the way law is, very linear and orderly.
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But what about culture studies?
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That's just a mass of comparisons of different cultures.
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Which tells you that you'll need a table where, in tabular form, you can efficiently write down information.
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But often the lecture's not that simple.
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The professor throws in a really complex mix of ideas.
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Then use a spider graph, like the web a spider makes, where there's a central idea around which you attach all the associated thoughts
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and ideas and impressions i see i think i understand
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and that would be very quick too very efficient i like that but what about management theory
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how would you approach that the same as with culture studies i'd use a network
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which is basically the same as a spider graph linking thoughts although this time there are directions involved.
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It is this element that makes it different, the fact that the thoughts go one way and not the other.
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OK, has directions.
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It sounds logical.
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What about the other subjects, such as political science?
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There's no predictable order to that.
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Well, for that I'd just put my notes in a line, that is, in linear or straight line fashion, and these notes would use symbols,
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of course to save time okay that just leaves mass media for
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that i wouldn't have any special design at all as you
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say sometimes it's impossible to predict in what way lecturers will present their information in
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which case the best you can do is pre -write headings
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but not specific just general as in main one main two sub one two
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and three and so on okay
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but always be prepared to adapt to the nature of the talk using any one of the other methods
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if it becomes appropriate at the time
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that is the end of section three you now have half a minute to check your answers
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now turn to section four Section 4 You will hear a lecturer talking about an unusual atomic particle called a neutrino.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 35.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 35.
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When considering the smallest unit of matter, the atom, most people know of electrons,
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protons and neutrons, but almost none know of another particle, even though they are constantly emitted from the sun in the trillions,
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with 100 to 200 billion of them regularly passing through your body every second.
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To repeat, that's not thousands, not millions, but billions every second.
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You don't feel them because they are small, in fact so tiny that we can barely detect their presence at all.
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These mysterious particles are called neutrinos.
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Despite such an abundance, detecting them is a huge undertaking, and there are many reasons for this.
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Firstly, the neutrino itself is so small that you need to eliminate absolutely all other particles around.
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To do this, you need what is called a clean room, one that has an extremely low level of dust,
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microbes, floating particles or chemical vapours.
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You probably don't know it, but the air around you right now has almost 40 million particles per cubic metre.
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In contrast, the cleanest of clean rooms has less than 10.
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The second problem is that you also need an environment with absolutely no background radiation.
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At the surface of the Earth such radiation is all around, from the sun and sky and from TVs and communication devices.
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The only way to screen out all that is to go underground, and I mean deep underground.
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For example, the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Canada uses an old nickel mine, one of the deepest in the world,
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and puts the observatory in its lowest tunnel, more than two kilometres below the surface.
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At such depths, stray radiation is sufficiently screened out to allow neutrinos only to pass by.
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The final problem is that you need an elaborate detection system, and this apparatus is huge,
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and its installation in this deep underground cavity presents quite a headache.
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Holding such a weighty construction safe and secure requires complex engineering work, such as rock bolting and support structuring.
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This obviously requires great care and takes a lot of effort.
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Before you hear the rest of the lecture, you have some time to look at questions 36 to 40.
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Now listen and answer questions 36 to 40.
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So I've told you about the difficulty in detecting neutrinos.
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They are tiny, virtually weightless, have no electric charge and hardly interact with anything at all.
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Yet we can detect them and to see how let's consider the Sudbury installation once again.
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The detector there consists of a spherical container filled with heavy water.
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This rests inside another vessel filled with normal water, which helps support the weight of the inner sphere,
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as well as providing further shielding from any stray radiation.
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At the edge of this inner sphere are about 10 ,000 electronic detectors.
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These are extremely sensitive, able to multiply a hundred million times any electric current which occurs.
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So, as the neutrinos pass through this sphere of water, there is a very, very, very small chance that one of them may hit a water molecule.
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To increase the likelihood of this, two strategies are used.
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One, the larger the sphere of water, the better, and the Sudbury tank holds not 10 tonnes, not 100 tonnes, but 1 ,000 tonnes.
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Two, the water is special, consisting as it does of heavier molecules.
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So what happens is this.
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If the neutrino hits the water molecule, the neutrino is absorbed, but the molecule itself splits apart, producing a tiny electric current.
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It is this which is detected and analysed, giving key information about the neutrino.
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The final question is why do we care about these elusive particles?
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Well, just think.
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They can pass right through the core of our sun at the speed of light without being affected or losing strength.
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No other form of radiation can do that, meaning that the knowledge we get about neutrinos can help us to control them.
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With this ability, we can probe the centre of our Earth, the inner layers of our Sun and the outer limits of our solar system,
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and that makes it all worth the effort.
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That is the end of Section 4.
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You now have half a minute to check your answers.
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answers.
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That is the end of the listening test.
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In the real IELTS test, you would now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 289 sentences and 3293 words to shadow. The speech runs for 24:54. The speaker talks at a steady 132 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 |
|---|---|---|
| lecture noun | /ˈlɛk.t͡ʃə/ | A spoken lesson or exposition, usually delivered to a group. |
| particle noun | /ˈpɑɹtək(ə)l/ | A very small piece of matter, a fragment; especially, the smallest possible part of something. |
| radiation noun | /ˌɹeɪ.diˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The shooting forth of anything from a point or surface, like diverging rays of light. |
| detect verb | /dɪˈtɛkt/ | To discover or find by careful search, examination, or probing. |
| carefully adverb | /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/ | With care; attentively, circumspectly. |
| sphere noun | /sfɪɚ/ | A surface in three dimensions consisting of all points equidistant from a center. . |
| molecule noun | /ˈmɑ.lɪ.kjul/ | The smallest particle of a specific element or compound that retains the chemical properties of that element or compound; two or more atoms held together by… |
| underground adjective | /ˌʌn.dəɹˈɡɹaʊnd/ | Below the ground; below the surface of the Earth. |
| symbol noun | /ˈsɪmbəl/ | A character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object. |
| spider noun | /ˈspaɪ̯dɚ/ | Any of various eight-legged, predatory arthropods, of the order Araneae, most of which spin webs to catch prey. |
| beside | /bɪˈsaɪd/ | Next to; at the side of. |
| recommendation noun | /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/ | An act of recommending. |
| slot noun | /slɑt/ | A narrow depression, perforation, or aperture; especially, one for the reception of a piece fitting or sliding into it. |
| lecturer noun | /ˈlɛkt͡ʃəɹə/ | A person who gives lectures, especially as a profession. |
| noisy adjective | /ˈnɔɪzi/ | Making a noise, especially a loud unpleasant sound |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| pass through verb | To go through, to travel through, to transit or lie across a place or from one place to another. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. |
| take down verb | To remove something from a wall or similar vertical surface to which it is fixed. |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to be · used to hike · used to jog |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | will be played · will be given · has been done |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been done · has been written · I've told |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | ILC, which means · students who want · this which is |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 45 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, I'd. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: radiation /ˌɹeɪ.diˈeɪ.ʃən/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, sheet /ʃit/, installation /ˌɪn.stəˈleɪ.ʃən/, contrast /kənˈt(ʃ)ɹæst/
- Long words — get the stress right: radiation /ˌɹeɪ.diˈeɪ.ʃən/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, installation /ˌɪn.stəˈleɪ.ʃən/, observatory /əbˈzɜːvət(ə)ɹi/, unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/
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 lecture, particle, radiation.
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.