Shadowing Practice: IELTS Listening Podcast Tháng 7 | ASMR | IELTS Test 2025 | Luyện Nghe tiếng Anh #ib8 - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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You'll hear a telephone conversation between a man who is looking for a summer job as a fruit picker and a woman who owns a farm.
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Manor Farm, hello.
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Hi there.
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I'd like to apply to do fruit picking this summer.
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Oh, hello.
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I'm Mrs Chandler.
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My husband and I own Manor Farm.
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Let me take some details.
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I'll just get a form to fill in.
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Hold on.
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Sure.
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Sorry.
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Right.
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Your name is...
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It's Ben Miller.
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And where are you from?
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I'm from the USA.
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Fine.
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Um, can I ask your age?
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I'm 20.
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You only take people over the age of 16, don't you?
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Yes, that's right.
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Are you able to work in the UK?
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Sorry?
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I mean, do you have a visa?
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Oh, yeah.
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I have a thing called a blue card.
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It's valid until November.
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That's fine, then.
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We'll need fruit pickers from the middle of June until the end of September.
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What's your availability?
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When can I work?
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Um, I'd like to do July, August and September, and could do October if there's any work then.
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OK.
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Did you find out about us through our website?
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That's right.
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It's much easier than going through an agency.
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I see you need most pickers in September for apples and pears, but the whole picking season can last about 16 weeks.
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Well, yes, but it's a question of the weather.
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That determines how much fruit we grow, of course.
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That's why I can't give you exact picking dates now.
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I see.
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Oh, well, no problem.
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Can you tell me what pickers earn?
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Well, that depends on age.
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The rate is £4.50 an hour for the under-18s, but as you're over 18, it would rise to £5.60 an hour.
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Uh-huh.
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Your website says that you don't provide accommodation for pickers, so I guess I should arrange that in advance.
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Yes.
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There is no accommodation on the farm, but there is a campsite about 15 minutes away.
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Is that walking distance?
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What do you think?
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No. Maybe I should bring my bike to get around.
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Yes, we always recommend that.
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Some pickers bring a car but then find the roads rather narrow, and the bus is very infrequent.
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Do you have any questions?
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I know that fruit picking is hard work, but is there anything special I need to bring with me?
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Well, firstly, documentation is extremely important.
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We will need proof of age, so we'll expect to see your passport.
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Pickers without one won't be allowed to work.
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Oh, even if their age is written on their driving license?
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Sorry, a driving license isn't suitable.
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Fair enough.
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I guess some lunch is provided for all the hungry fruit pickers.
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I'm afraid not You'll need to bring your own food for lunch And more importantly, enough water to last a full day It can get very hot, so drinking is vital
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Right, like back home Okay, well, thanks for all the information What happens now?
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Well, I'll post a contract to you
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Section 2 You will hear a radio announcer describing a city in New Zealand called Gisborne.
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Greetings all you listeners out there.
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This is National Radio and I'm Kevin Lowe.
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This morning I'm going to tell you what's so special about the laid back city of Gisborne.
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You'll hear a little bit about its past in the old days and a lot about what attractions it has to offer foreign and domestic visitors today.
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So listen up to learn more about what there is to do in this city and its surrounding region, where the economy is booming but the lifestyle remains unspoiled.
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The Gisborne region is where the legendary canoe sailed by Maori explorers first landed in New Zealand about 1400 years ago, after its long and risky voyage over the sea.
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It is also the easternmost point of the country, which is what inspired its original name, Te Tarafiti, which in the Maori language means the coast where the sun rises across the waters.
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Gisborne was also the place where the European explorer Captain Cook first landed his boat upon discovering New Zealand all the way from England back in 1769.
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Even in those early days, this district was a centre of horticulture, thanks to its fertile soil and subtropical climate.
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Soon after that, of course, the English settlers arrived and soon Gisborne was shipping its products to larger settlements such as Auckland and Wellington.
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This began with maize and root crops but quickly expanded to butter, meat and wool from the agricultural settlements in the rich pastoral country near the famous Poverty Bay.
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Wharves and jetties were built beside the sea to service the coastal traders.
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Many of these wooden structures can still be seen on Gisborne beaches today.
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Today Gisborne continues to export fresh produce to other regions of New Zealand.
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These wares include various award-winning cheeses and, of course, the delicious lobsters and snapper fish harvested by hand from the local reefs and waters.
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As for exports to Asian markets, there's an increasing demand for the region's oranges and lemons.
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Gisborne is also becoming well known nationally and internationally as the source of some top quality white and red grapes.
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Now, what's on in Gisborne?
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Well, first up, There's the annual Gisbon concert held every summer time.
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This is a great experience.
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It's held at Waiahikia Vineyard, which is near the traditional Maori meeting house, or Marai of the same name.
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They bring in a piano player and opera singers who perform on a purpose-built stage in a kind of natural amphitheatre, in the middle of the rows of grapes.
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It's a fantastic concert-like atmosphere, a really good night out.
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What to do on a rainy day?
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I'd suggest a visit to the show called The Beach, which is on in Gallery 1 at Tairafiti Museum.
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It's a big display, so it also takes up the hall next to Gallery 1, and it's divided into different sections of the local culture like surfing, camping, fashion and so on.
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If you buy the book of the exhibition, there are some interesting photographs in there.
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There's a lot else to see in Gisborne as well.
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You shouldn't miss the Hot Springs Reserve, which has warm natural mineral pools and little houses where you can stay amongst the bush.
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Being very secluded and private, this resort is most favoured by newlyweds who often book a cabin for their honeymoon.
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water is very therapeutic too.
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It's apparently good for your health to bathe there, though not recommended for pregnant women or the elderly.
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Around the corner is Mahia Peninsula, legendary as a New Year's Eve party destination for large crowds of university students after their graduation.
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The surfing and fishing here is excellent, and it's a safe spot for swimming and diving too.
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Now, also good for kids is taking a raft or jet boat ride on the Motu River.
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This sounds quite wild, doesn't it?
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But in fact, this activity is often used by local primary schools who take big groups of young children, several classes at a time, out here for a bit of fun while they're on their school camp.
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No parents required.
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You can have some time out, as this activity is a lot safer than it sounds and is carefully supervised by the rafting company.
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Finally, don't let's forget the Eden Woodlands Park, which is really a huge tree nursery.
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You can walk for hours here in the peaceful green surroundings, along a variety of tracks.
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There's even a very nice walkway made wide enough for those in wheelchairs, so that everyone can go along and enjoy Mother Nature at her best.
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Section 3 You will hear three marketing students discussing their research findings on vehicles known as SUVs or four-wheel drive vehicles.
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so guys have you got all your notes on four-wheel drive vehicles shall we go through what we've each found and think
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about how we'll put it together for next week's marketing seminar yeah sure uh let's start with what these cars were originally designed for oh i've got something on that here
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well four-wheel drives or sports utility vehicles as they are officially known
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SUVs for short, were originally designed for off-road use by people who need to get to remote areas out in the bush for instance,
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but the interesting thing is that they're actually sold now to a lot of people who just use them in cities, so they make quite different use of them.
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Okay, then maybe we should make a list of their advantages, shall we?
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So one thing is
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that they're good for commercial use okay um how about also saying uh utilitarian
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rather than luxurious so you're not paying out for unnecessary luxuries okay what else
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well um they have increased engine capacity and they're also heavier so suitable for towing large loads
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so is this why so many people buy them then well no they seem to become fashionable now for rather
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different reasons research carried out by automobile clubs shows that people buy them for business because of the
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sort of image they project and mums like to drive their kids to school in them because they think they're safe so
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that's another reason and you can get about seven people into one of these so we could say seating capacity
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is another factor okay another thing that came out of my research is that people also like the higher
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seats they say it means they can get a better view of the traffic ahead of them but you
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know some of these reasons just don't work i mean the safety thing is just a misconception because generally in a collision they can do terrible damage to a smaller car.
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That's right.
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That's one of the disadvantages I have here.
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Shall we go through those now?
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Good idea.
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So let's say that potentially they are harmful in built-up areas.
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Generally the damage they cause is due to their weight.
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That's right, isn't it?
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Yes, it is.
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I've got a note here about their chassis.
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The bodywork on an SUV is stiffer and doesn't crumple to absorb impact in a collision the way it does in smaller
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cars and there's another reason why they're not safe it's quite easy for them to roll over more so than an ordinary car
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because they've got a high centre of gravity so these are all the disadvantages how are we going to round this up well
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um i think maybe we could round up with a few ideas of how we can limit the use of these suvs one thing that could be done is to limit them to people like farmers who can prove that they need them.
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That's good, but it might be hard to enforce.
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Companies could also increase the insurance for SUVs since they cause more damage when there's an accident.
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That's a good idea too.
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I'll tell you what guys I'll write up these notes onto an OHT so that everyone can see them when we talk through our notes in the seminar but I think we need to put together a list of our sources too yeah can you do that
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Section 4.
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You will hear part of a student presentation about a conservation project on the Florida coast of the United States.
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Today I'm going to be talking about the first year of a regeneration project in a mangrove forest.
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Mangrove forests are found along river estuaries and coastlines and are important because they prevent flooding by acting as a barrier between the land and sea.
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The mangrove trees have special roots which can breathe and allow them to survive in thick, airless mud.
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They are also a very important habitat for wading birds, fish, and other animals.
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In the area where the project is taking place,
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there have been a number of problems since the area was first settled over 100 years ago many of the
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mangrove trees were initially burnt as firewood by local farmers the mangrove forests were also poisoned by settlers farming
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methods because the farmers used fertilizer to increase crop yields and this started to seep into the water eventually
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killing part of the mangrove forest farming in the area wasn't successful and what was left of the mangrove forest area
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wasn't valued by local people as crops couldn't be grown there and so what happened
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was that the area started to be used as somewhere to dump trash action
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was urgently needed to protect the mangrove forest and prevent flooding and so the mangrove regeneration project was set up the conservationists involved decided to construct a sand barrier around the forests.
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But unfortunately, this proved to be ineffective.
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The only way forward appeared to be to grow new mangroves from seed.
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Several species of mangrove inhabit the forests in this area of the United States, but it is the gray mangroves that we are concerned with here.
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The seed of this plant is about the size of an almond, and most seeds fall only when they are fully ripe.
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The mangrove regeneration project first began three years ago.
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The first set of seedlings was planted in small pots and left to germinate in a hothouse.
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The plants thrived, and large roots appeared at the bottom of the pots.
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Ideally, these seedlings should have been conditioned with increasingly salty water before being planted in the sea.
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They had, in fact, only been watered with rainwater.
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As the plants weren't used to a saline environment, it was decided to plant them out on the south side of a small island nearby.
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It was hoped that this would allow them to get used to salt water gradually, since this part of the island was flooded every day at high tide.
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There were over 100 plants planted in this particular spot,
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and it was necessary to protect them not from the large number of wading birds which visit the area looking for
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food but from the large rabbit colony living in the area the process for the second set of seedlings
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was completely different young seedlings were collected from the forests and then taken to a new site the
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seedlings were then planted in the seabed behind old mangrove roots for protection however this This method did not prove very successful, and the vast majority of these seedlings were washed away in a storm.
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Luckily, the first set of seedlings survived, and this method is the one which the project will continue to use in the future.
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Now I'd like to describe in more detail the process.
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Why Practice Speaking with This Video?

Engaging with this IELTS Listening Podcast is an excellent way to enhance your English speaking skills. The video features a realistic scenario—a telephone conversation between a job seeker and a farm owner—which helps learners grasp conversational English in a practical context. By listening to the dialogue, you not only familiarize yourself with everyday vocabulary but also develop an understanding of contextual phrases and nuances associated with job applications. Utilizing the shadowing technique allows you to mimic the speakers, improving your intonation, rhythm, and pronunciation. This interactive practice can boost your confidence when speaking in real-life situations.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

During the conversation in the podcast, several key grammatical structures and expressions stand out:

  • Present Tense Use: The speakers use present tense to convey immediate actions and facts, such as “I’d like to apply” and “we need fruit pickers.” This is crucial for learners to express current intentions accurately.
  • Question Formation: The dialogue includes various question forms, particularly regarding age and work eligibility. Questions like “Do you have a visa?” are essential for engaging in similar conversations.
  • Conditional Responses: The phrase “It depends on age” exemplifies how conditional phrases convey nuances in job requirements, a common subject in job-related discussions.
  • Direct Speech: The use of direct speech presents an authentic tone and voice, enabling listeners to learn natural spoken English.

Common Pronunciation Traps

Pronunciation can often be a hurdle. As you practice with this video, pay attention to the following tricky words and accents:

  • Accommodation: This word may be difficult for non-native speakers, but it’s essential in discussing job-related topics. Ensure you pronounce it as /əˌkɒməˈdeɪʃən/.
  • Eligibility: It’s vital to articulate this word properly—/ˌɛlɪdʒɪˈbɪlɪti/—as it frequently comes up in job applications and inquiries.
  • Visa: The emphasis on the first syllable—/ˈviːzə/—may be understated, but it's important for clarity in conversations about working abroad.

By integrating the shadow speak method while listening to this podcast, learners can enhance their English pronunciation. Repeating after the speakers and using the shadowspeaks approach will help you overcome these common pronunciation traps, ultimately leading to more fluent communication.

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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