Shadowing Practice: IELTS Listening Podcast Ep.30 - Luyện Nghe Tiếng Anh Thụ Động Mỗi Ngày - English Everyday Feb 2026 - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Section 1.
320 sentences
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Section 1.
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Listen to the conversation between a Japanese student and a housing officer and complete the form.
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You will see that there is an example which has been done for you.
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The conversation relating to this will be played first.
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Yes?
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What can I do for you?
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My friend is in a homestay and she really enjoys it,
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so I'd like to join a family as well.
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OK.
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Let me get some details.
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What's your name?
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My name is Keiko Yuchini.
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Could you spell your family name for me, please?
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Yes, it's Yuchini.
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That's Y-U-I-C-H-I-N-I.
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The student's family name is Uicini,
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so that has been written on the form.
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Now we shall begin.
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You should answer the questions as you listen,
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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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Yes, what can I do for you?
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My friend is in a homestay and she really enjoys it,
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so I'd like to join a family as well.
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OK, let me get some details.
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What's your name?
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My name is Keiko Yuchini.
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Could you spell your family name for me, please?
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Yes, it's Yuchini.
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That's Y-U-I-C-H-I-N-I.
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And your first name?
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It's Keiko.
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K-E-I-K-O.
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That's Keiko Yuchini.
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OK.
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And you're female.
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And your nationality?
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I'm Japanese.
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Right.
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And could I see your passport, please?
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Here it is.
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OK.
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Your passport number is JO6337.
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And you are how old?
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I'm 28 years old.
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Now you're living in one of the colleges.
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Which one?
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Willow College, Rome 21C.
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Right.
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21C, Willow College.
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And how long are you planning to stay with Homestay?
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About four months.
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Longer, if I like it.
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And what course are you enrolled in?
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Well, I've enrolled for 20 weeks in the Advanced English Studies because I need help with my writing,
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and I'm nearly at the end of my first five-week course.
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Right, so you've completed five weeks and you have enrolled for another 15 weeks.
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That's about four months altogether.
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That's right, about four months.
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OK, do you have a preference for a family,
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with children or without children?
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I prefer...
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I mean, I like young children,
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but I like to be with older people.
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You know, I like someone of my own age.
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OK.
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And do you smoke or drink?
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No and no. Would you mind being with a family of smokers?
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Yes, I would.
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I don't like smoking.
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I'd rather be with a family of people who do not smoke or drink.
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OK.
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And what about pets?
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Oh, I love animals.
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I'm a veterinarian, so that's fine.
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The more the better.
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All right.
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Now what about you?
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Are you a vegetarian or do you have any special food requirements?
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No, I'm not a vegetarian,
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but I don't eat a lot of meat.
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I really like seafood.
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And what about your hobbies?
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I like reading and going to the movies.
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Do you play any sports?
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Yes, I joined the handball team,
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but I didn't like that, so I stopped playing.
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You know, I play tennis on the weekend with my friends.
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Alright, let's see, name, age, er, transport.
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Are you familiar with the public transport system?
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No, I'm not really, because I've been living on campus.
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I've been to the city a few times on the bus,
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but they're always late.
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What about the trains?
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I like catching trains.
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They're much faster.
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Well, let's go and check on the computer to see what I've got.
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Um, listen, would it be okay to leave this with me?
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Could you come back after class this afternoon?
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Yes, of course.
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I'll check my records and I will give you details this afternoon.
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Thank you for your help.
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It's a pleasure.
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I'll see you this afternoon.
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Bye.
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Bye.
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Section 2.
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You are going to hear a talk given by a tour guide.
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About travel to Esnia
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Hello everyone as you know this agency has specialized in tours
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and independent travel to Esnia for over 20 years It's a magnificent place to visit,
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but it's not always as easy or as comfortable as it might be
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So this tour is designed to help you handle the bureaucratic hassles
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and give you time and energy to enjoy the beauty of this breathtaking country The first hassle is visas Nowadays,
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Esnian visas are needed by almost all nationalities.
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The normal visa lasts for just 90 days,
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but a renewal is possible.
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It is worth leaving yourself plenty of time when applying,
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or I suggest from experience, two months.
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That should do it.
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The latest confirmed price is £30,
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but it should be noted,
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and a lot of our regular travellers tell us that the price may change without notice and hold up visa processing.
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So ring up the Esnian embassy and check the price before sending out forms.
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Now, for those of you who are intending to take Esnia as part of a longer tour
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and want to wait till you get to another country,
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do remember that some Esnian consulates in neighboring countries require you to provide a letter from your own embassy,
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just to confirm your nationality.
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You can find a list of major embassies throughout the world in the Student Handbook on page 13.
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Oh, and one more thing.
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Check whether you need a multiple entry visa if you are leaving and re-entering Esnia on your tour.
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Now, some miscellaneous general advice.
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Firstly, if you are rich enough to bring in over $1,000 in cash or traveler's checks to Esnia,
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you need to fill in the currency form.
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Don't forget this.
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You could get into trouble if you do.
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You must declare all of your items and more expensive items,
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such as video cameras, on a tourist export form,
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which you can arrange to carry in advance.
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Regarding health regulations, although Esna is becoming a generally healthier country with every passing year,
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neighboring countries remain cautious with regards to health standards there,
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and therefore it is worthwhile carrying a health certificate.
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The one you need is the BM-276.
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Now all of you here are students and there will be plenty of concessions for young people traveling in Esnir.
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The Esnir and Transport Authority,
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for example, issues a special youth fare card which you can get in any railway station.
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Just show your international student card.
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Information about getting this is in the handbook and give two passport photos.
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And by the way, because there is so much bureaucracy in Esnia,
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we advise you to take at these 12 passport photos with you.
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They're not always easy to get done there.
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Finally, a bit more about currency.
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Pounds won't get you very far in Esnia these days,
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so they're no good.
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We advise people to carry either yen or Australian dollars.
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US dollars are starting to cause difficulties because of political disputes.
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Another surprise is that credit cards are virtually useless because of fraud scandals.
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Do carry travellers checks, but we advise medium denominations.
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Large denominations increase the likelihood of theft and small ones increase commission charges.
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Now, as I mentioned earlier,
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this student handbook has a wealth of information.
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Section 3.
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In this section, you will hear a discussion about shopping habits.
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Ah, excuse me.
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I wonder if you'd mind answering a few questions.
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You see, I'm doing a project.
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Fine, what's this on?
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Well, I'm looking at the people's shopping habits.
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Okay.
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Can I ask you, first of all, are you a student?
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Well, I was a student here last year,
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but since then I've left,
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and I'm working in a bank now as a cashier.
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I just came to see a friend.
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Oh, that's OK.
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So how often do you go shopping?
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Oh, I buy a lot of books.
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Should I exclude books?
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Oh, if you leave books aside,
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what about shopping for all of your personal items,
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study things and that sort of thing?
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OK, because I go to the supermarket almost every day,
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it seems the other things I'd say.
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I tend to do it every other week.
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And do you spend the same amount each time?
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I guess so.
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I only have about £100 a month spare,
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so I'd probably spend about £50 each time.
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What sort of shops do you like best?
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The department store or the small retail outlets?
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Oh, I like big department stores,
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so everything's in one place.
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The weather's so bad, so it's a bit miserable trudging from one little shop to another.
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Great.
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What do you find most difficult to buy?
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What do you mean?
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Well, what do you have to really search for?
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What takes you a long time to find?
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Oh, jeans, definitely.
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You can get hold of a sweater or a CD in a moment.
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But with jeans, I can spend all afternoon and still not find a pair that fits.
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OK, one last question.
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Who do you usually shop with?
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Now?
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I usually go shopping on my own,
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but if I want to make it more of a social occasion,
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with friends, to have a coffee and things.
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I often go with colleagues from work,
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you know, in our lunch hour.
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Well, thank you very much.
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You've been very helpful.
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No problem.
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Hello, Dale.
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How did you get on with your shopping inquiries?
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Well, I got 50 people to answer questions,
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and the results were quite interesting.
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OK, let's have a look.
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Well, those were handouts, and here you can see
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that the majority of people I interviewed said they went shopping once a week.
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Most often, that was the weekend.
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Right.
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For those people who spend enormous amounts of money,
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if you see this chart,
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you can see that half the people spend £45 a month,
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and while 15% of people spend more than that,
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an average of £75, the rest spend relatively small amounts.
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Even the regular shoppers spend no more than £20 a month.
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Window shoppers?
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Yes, I asked them what kinds of shops they prefer,
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and the response was unanimous.
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Everyone went for department stores.
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I think that's what young people today want.
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That's understandable.
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And that's a useful statistic, I think.
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I also talked to them about the things they found most difficult to buy.
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I thought the answer was going to be something like books or study materials,
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but it's always clothes.
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They have problems with things related to hobbies.
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As far as sportswear is concerned,
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they complain about the lack of shops that sell it.
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Not many had trouble buying sweaters and things like that,
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but shoes and trousers were really problematic.
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Was that, again, because there just isn't enough variety?
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Yes, they say everywhere they just come across the same styles,
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so they just give up after a while.
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I know what they mean.
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Lastly, I asked them whom they want to shop with.
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Section 4.
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In this section, you will hear a lecture about study.
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Can anybody hear me?
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Is this microphone working?
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Good.
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Now, welcome everybody to the second of these lectures on successful study at college.
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Yesterday we looked at housekeeping issues,
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where to find information, how to use the library computer system and so on.
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Today we're going to cover an issue that will be vitally important to you all throughout your time here at college,
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and that is time management.
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Hundreds of books have been written about time management
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and those of you who are interested in doing some extra
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reading on the subject are very welcome to see me after the lecture as I have a book list here
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and some other useful materials.
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Now time management.
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In the past this used to mean making a list to plan for every hour of the week
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and then try to stick to this plan.
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These days, however, the whole idea of managing time has changed.
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In fact, if you think about it,
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you'll find that it's impossible to manage time.
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It just goes.
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So, what you really need to manage is yourself.
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To manage yourself effectively, you need to have a clear idea both of what you want to achieve
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and how to achieve it.
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In other words, you need to set goals
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and you need to move towards achieving these goals in an efficient and systematic way.
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Most coursework at the college is set by mid-semester
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and at the end of the semester usually involves two written assignments of between 1,500 and 3,000 words in length.
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If you look around you at college you will see
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that during the first weeks of the term everyone looks cheerful and focused,
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followed by a change around week 6,
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assignment time, when people start to look a bit stressed.
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The library reports that an increasing number of students become angry when books are not available.
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So what's happened?
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Has everybody become suddenly irritable and angry for no reason?
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Not quite.
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The reason is that people have not managed their resources well.
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They have not set priorities for reaching their goals and,
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as a result, some of them realize they are going to do badly with their assignments.
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This will not be because they lack intelligence or love of the subject.
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They will fail because they did not have a clear idea of what they have to do
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and how long it should take them.
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Let's step back a minute.
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What do we mean by establishing goals?
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Well, basically, it means deciding what you want to achieve.
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In other words, deciding on the results that you want to achieve.
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The students that I've mentioned found themselves very stressed,
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mainly because they have an assignment to do.
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But they did not fully think through the effect that this would have on their day-to-day life.
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There's an awful lot of spare time in a day.
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For example, if you manage to spend some of that time,
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even just one hour, on an activity that helps you with your study,
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that one hour could have a major impact in your course,
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particularly if you make it a regular habit.
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I'd like to ask you now to have a look at the planners in your information kits.
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You will see that there are three.
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One term planner, one weekly planner and one daily planner.
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The term planner is to help you get an overview of everything that you will need to do for the term.
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The weekly planner is to help you week by week
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and the daily planner will help you with the really detailed planning Before we go any further,
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I would like you to make a note in your daily
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planner right now I want you to picture how you could
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make a major difference in your life by spending just one hour a day on some activities for the next term
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Background reading, for example, or preparing a bibliography
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Now imagine the benefit at the end of the term The term diary and the weekly diary are the most important ones.
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However, a week is really the shortest time you have to establish an overview of your time for planning purposes.
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Now you need to set priorities for the term.
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Work out how you could achieve those priorities and the results that you desire.
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If you can get into the habit of planning like this,
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you'll soon find that you've actually had more time than before to spend on relaxation and other activities that you enjoy.
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Now let's share some of the ideas that you've come up with.
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I'll divide you up into groups to share your ideas.
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OK.
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Context & Background
In this engaging IELTS Listening Podcast episode, we dive into a conversation between a Japanese student, Keiko Yuchini, and a housing officer discussing her desire to experience a homestay. The dialogue exemplifies a common scenario that many international students encounter when seeking accommodation abroad. Understanding this type of conversational English is essential for daily interactions, particularly for those preparing for the IELTS exam or looking to enhance their English communication skills. The interaction conveys important details surrounding personal information and housing requests, offering learners an authentic context in which to practice their listening and speaking abilities.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- “Yes? What can I do for you?” - A welcoming way to invite someone to speak.
- “Could you spell your family name for me, please?” - Useful for clarifying names or other spelled information.
- “Let me get some details.” - A common phrase when gathering information.
- “I’d like to join a family as well.” - A polite way to express interest in a situation.
- “Could I see your passport, please?” - Essential when verifying identity or nationality.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively employ the shadowing technique with this transcript, follow these steps to enhance your English speaking practice:
- Listen Actively: Play the audio from the podcast and focus on the conversation without distractions. Pay attention to the tone, pronunciation, and rhythm.
- First Playback: Listen to the full dialogue without pausing. Try to grasp the general context and the interplay between the speakers.
- Break Down the Dialogue: Replay the conversation in segments. Pause after each line or phrase to mimic the speakers. This is the essence of shadowspeak.
- Repeat and Imitate: Shadow the speech by repeating the phrases immediately after you hear them. Focus on mimicking the accent and intonation as closely as possible to develop a natural flow.
- Practice Speaking Freely: After several iterations, try to engage in similar scenarios using the phrases you learned. For instance, role-play as the housing officer or as Keiko, practicing your dialogues with a partner or recording yourself to assess your progress.
Engaging in this structured approach not only helps improve your listening skills but also enhances your speaking ability, allowing you to articulate your thoughts with confidence in real-life situations. By integrating the shadowing technique into your daily practice, you will find yourself improving your fluency and communication skills 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.
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