Shadowing Practice: IELTS Speaking 8.5 | Мок тест + Кері байланыс - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hello and welcome to your IELTS picking exam.

I'm going to be your IELTS picking examiner.

My full name is Danakul Bahitepa.

Can you tell me your full name, please?

Hello, my name is Gulnaz and my last name is Achibay.

Okay, and what can I call you?

You can call me Gulnaz.

Okay, Gulnaz.

So, in this part one, I'm going to ask you a few questions related to you personally.

Can you tell me a little bit about your hometown?

Where are you from?

I am from a little city, Ahtau, which is located near the Caspian Sea.

I was born there and I have been living half of my life there.

But nowadays I'm living in Astana.

Okay.

What is your hometown well known for?

It is known for, as I said before, the Caspian Sea.

Most people from Kazakhstan and other countries come to see the sea in the summers.

They come there to spend their summer holidays,

to eat some fish, freshly made fish, and just to relax.

Okay, let's talk about your home.

Where do you live?

In an apartment or in a house?

I live in a block of apartments

and I prefer the apartment more than rather than house

because I believe that there are many works to do in a house like the gardening and other stuff.

I don't have much time to do and to deal with these kind of things.

That's why I prefer living in apartment, which I do know okay

and what do you like most about the place

that you live in now i like that i have a spacious room um

and the devices there like i have an oven there

which is new i have um microwave there

which i didn't have in my last apartment so i'm okay okay now let's talk about shopping do you like shopping?

I do like shopping but it depends on what I am shopping for.

If I'm buying some clothes or gadgets then I would be excited to do it

but if it's just regular grocery shopping then I wouldn't feel that excited about this one.

Okay and how often do you go shopping?

So if we are talking about grocery shopping I do it like once a week

but if talking about shopping for clothes or devices then I go for it just once a month or twice.

Okay and do you compare prices when you shop?

Of course I do because I'm keen on these financial literacy stuff

so if I'm buying things especially expensive ones then I need to compare prices first,

I need to compare the quality first and then I can make decision what to buy.

Okay, now let's talk about music.

Do you prefer sad or happy music?

Of course I always listen to happy music because I believe that happy music can make you feel indeed happy.

So when you're listening to sad music, especially especially when you are sad, then I think it would make the situation even worse.

That's why I always try to listen to music

which will raise my mood up and which will add some colors to my day.

Okay.

And what genre of music do you enjoy listening to?

I am not that picky when it comes to music genre.

I listen to any music that I like, that my soul likes and my soul prefers.

So I wouldn't say that I like a specific kind of music genre.

Okay.

Does happy music make you feel more excited? it yes it does as i said before

when i listen to happy music uh i myself start feeling happier okay this is the end of part one

now we are starting part two

and for this one i will give you a cue card

and you will have one minute to prepare for the topic feel free to take some notes

and then i will give you two minutes to talk about the topic.

You may start preparing now.

Okay, Gernaz, I need to stop you now and I'm going to give you two minutes to talk about the topic.

Don't worry if I stop you.

Okay, so you can start speaking now.

Okay, so a plan that I had to cancel or change was my trip to Dubai that I had arranged with my friends.

So we had been planning it for over a month and we were very excited about this trip.

So we're looking forward to going to Dubai.

We even planned the outfits that we're going to take there, the pictures, the poses and the places to visit.

We planned the whole itinerary.

But unfortunately, because of the political tensions in that region at that time,

we decided that it would be better if we postponed the trip.

But then we decided that we have a second option, which is choosing another destination.

And our trip to Dubai turned out to be a trip to Thailand.

So we went to Thailand instead, which was actually the best decision.

Because at that time, the type of vacation that we needed was a vacation near the beach where you can just relax,

eat some fruits, drink some tropical juice, and just have fun with your friends.

And also we like the weather there.

And so everything turned out to be for the best, to happen for the best.

So the new plan was this trip to Thailand and we could make it happen till the day where we originally planned.

And I actually felt a bit overwhelmed in the beginning because the political tensions were still there.

And I was afraid if my, I don't know, flight to Thailand will be cancelled as well.

Okay, so I need to stop you now.

Thank you so much.

And now we are moving on to part three.

And in this one, I will ask you some general questions related to the topic that you talked about before, which is planning.

Do old people often change plans?

Actually, I don't think so because old people tend to stick to their plans that they had made.

And they are mostly responsible for their plans

and they feel like they are responsible for their time as well as other people's time, which is really really good.

So I think that postponing or cancelling plans, it's not about old people.

Okay.

Do young people like to change plans?

Yes, especially people from my surroundings.

They mostly like changing plans, and there might be some interesting reasons for that.

For example, once I was planning to go to the cinema with my friends,

We bought the tickets, I was preparing to go there and then my friend texted me before leaving the house.

So I was about to leave the house and she texted

that she couldn't make it happen because she has some things to do

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or her other friend called her to go out and I was like, okay, then what I'm going to do?

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So I think young people are kind of irresponsible for other people's time.

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Okay.

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What are the common reasons when people need to change plans overall?

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There are many reasons actually, starting from some health issues,

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some, I don't know, they had still some work to do, family issues, I don't know.

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I don't know, like issues, relationship issues and other stuff.

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So I can't say that there are these categories of changing plans.

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But generally, people change plans when they have something more exciting to do than the previous plan.

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Okay.

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And how does technology help people make plans?

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Oh, actually it helps a lot, especially with the technology improvement recently.

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The people can use technology when sharing common calendars, sharing the documents where...

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a group of people can plan a trip or event at the same time just by sharing the documents.

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So it saves time, it saves the energy.

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So you can just sit at your home and just do the stuff by yourself.

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Okay, thank you so much, Galnaz.

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This is the end of your speaking test.

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In just a moment, I will start giving you your feedback.

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Okay, Ghanaz, now I will give you your personal feedback for the speaking test that we did.

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So let's start with part one.

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And by the way, I will relate back to the four assessment criteria in IELTS speaking, which are fluency and coherence,

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lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation.

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Your fluency and coherence were perfect in all three parts.

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And what matters most in IELTS speaking is the natural speech

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which you naturally have so that is solid band 9 for your fluency

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and coherence very good job out there for your lexical resource there were some minor slips here

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and there in part one what I noticed was the word the word choice mistake devices so when you talked about kitchen,

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it's appliances, okay?

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So instead of devices, you would say appliances.

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In part two, I noticed another word choice slip with the word itinerary.

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So you said itinerary.

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So yeah, that's another for the word choice.

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But I think these minor slips were not, you know, did not ruin the overall communication.

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So I would still give you a nine for lexical resource.

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The thing with grammatical range and accuracy though.

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So since you prioritized your fluency, which was great, your grammar, you had some minor grammatical slips here and there.

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In part one, when you were talking about your apartment, you said that I prefer the apartment than houses.

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So you don't need the apartment.

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So just because you are speaking in general, you should say apartments, right?

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So generally apartments, not a specific one.

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Make decision.

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Make a decision.

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Okay, so articles here and there, the same thing with part two, by the way, second option.

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So since the word option is both singular and countable, you would say a second or the second option.

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and in part three I noticed you said are more tend to

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so people are more tend to with the word tend to you don't need are

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so people tend to or people are usually and last

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but not least for for grammatical range and accuracy

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because of these slips I would give you eight and for your pronunciation in part one.

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I noticed you said grocery shopping a little bit different.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Grocery shopping.

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So it's like grocery shopping.

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That's a weird one, but yeah.

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Other than that, everything was perfect in part one.

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Starting from part two and three, I noticed this pattern with the sound in in English.

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So with the words visit, trip, decision, with, still, interesting,

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sit, you have a Russian pattern with the Russian language.

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So visit, what was it?

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Visit, visit?

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I don't know how exactly is it.

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Yeah.

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Trip.

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TRIP.

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TRIP.

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Wheeze.

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So something like that.

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So there is a difference with the strong E sound and the sound that you need with these words.

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So it's not with or still.

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It's still with sit.

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So with the word sit, by the way, you said seat.

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So it becomes similar to the noun form of the word, right?

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Seat.

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So you need to be careful out there with this pattern with it.

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Okay.

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Outfits, by the way, not outfits. So outfits.

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Okay.

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Okay, with the word arranged, don't really remember exactly what was wrong with that.

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I think you said something like arranged or something like that.

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So arranged, okay.

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And with the word were.

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So I noticed that you said were and maybe that was just a slip.

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I'm sure you know that rule.

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Okay, but overall for your pronunciation, I would definitely give you no less than eight and that would give us an overall of 8 .5,

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which is a really good job, a very strong performance.

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Congratulations on that.

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And do you agree with my feedback?

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Yes, I do.

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Okay, then.

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Thank you so much for your time.

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This is it.

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Thank you.

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This is it.

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This is the first time we will be able to do this.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “IELTS Speaking 8.5”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: word, shopping, trip, apartment. This video has 194 sentences and 2030 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:06. The speaker talks at a steady 134 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
slip verb	/ˈslɪp/	To lose one’s traction on a slippery surface; to slide due to a lack of friction.
grocery noun	/ˈɡɹəʊ.s(ə.)ɹi/	Retail foodstuffs and other household supplies.
topic noun	/ˈtɑpɪk/	A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
outfit noun	/ˈaʊtfɪt/	A set of clothing (with accessories).
arrange verb	/əˈɹeɪnd͡ʒ/	To set up; to organize; to put into an orderly sequence or arrangement.
compare verb	/kəmˈpɛɚ/	To assess the similarities and differences between two or more things [“to compare X with Y”]. Having made the comparison of X with Y, one might have found it…
resource noun	/ɹɪˈzɔːs/	Something that one uses to achieve an objective, e.g. raw materials or personnel.
feedback noun	/ˈfiːdˌbæk/	Critical assessment of a process or activity or of their results.
accuracy noun	/ˈæk.jɚ.ə.si/	The state of being accurate; being free from error; exactness; correctness
cancel verb	/ˈkæn.sl̩/	To cross out something with lines etc.
genre noun	/ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/	A kind; a stylistic category or sort, especially of literature or other artworks.
pronunciation noun	/pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/	The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken.
vacation noun	/veɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/	An extended trip or journey away from home for rest or pleasure.
relax verb	/ɹɪˈlæks/	To make something loose.
tension noun	/ˈtɛnʃən/	The condition of being held in a state between two or more forces, which are acting in opposition to each other.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
go out verb	To leave, especially a building.
look forward to verb	To anticipate, expect, or wait for, especially with a feeling of approval or pleasure; to be excited or eager to.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Can you tell me your full name, please?
Can you tell me a little bit about your hometown?
What is your hometown well known for?
Do you prefer sad or happy music?
Does happy music make you feel more excited?

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	Ahtau, which is · option, which is · instead, which was
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is located · was born · is known

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 29 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: genre /ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, vacation /veɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/, tension /ˈtɛnʃən/, congratulations /kənˌɡɹæt͡ʃəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/
Long words — get the stress right: accuracy /ˈæk.jɚ.ə.si/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, congratulations /kənˌɡɹæt͡ʃəˈleɪʃ(ə)nz/, examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/

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 slip, grocery, topic.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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

Shadowing Practice: IELTS Speaking 8.5 | Мок тест + Кері байланыс - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?