Shadowing Practice: IELTS Speaking Part 1 - Weather ⛅ | Model answers - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Our dear listener, if you're listening to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, could you please take a minute and give us a five -star rating?
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This would really help us to move forward.
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Hello lovely, I'm Maria.
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And my name is Rory and we are the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast.
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The podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills as well as your listening skills along the way.
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We've started this podcast to give you gorgeous grammar and fabulous vocabulary for your high IELTS score.
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Which score, Rory?
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It's a band 9 score, Maria.
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Yay!
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Dear listener, could you please share our podcast with your friends, classmates, family members?
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So if your grandma will find it useful, could you please send our podcast to your grandma?
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Send them the link, tell them how useful our podcast is.
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We're going to really appreciate if you do.
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It's super useful.
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By the way, we have a premium speaking podcast.
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three with complete transcripts for each episode, including the discussion part, modal answers,
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and vocabulary that you will be able to use in your own exam.
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And of course, lots of jokes and good mood.
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This week in part two, Rory describes a family member that made him feel proud.
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And in speaking part three, we discuss rewards, children, parents.
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Do check it out.
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The link is in the Rory, it's bucketing down here in Moscow.
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Yeah, it's pretty bad here as well.
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It's almost like it's raining cats and dogs.
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Shall we talk about cats and dogs or the weather?
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I think we should talk about the weather.
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Let's talk about the weather!
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What's the weather usually like in your hometown?
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Well, right now it's pretty dreary, I'd say.
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We're moving from, well, we're moving from, what, summer into autumn.
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We're actually in the midst of autumn now.
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So the climate is getting progressively colder and damper as the days go by.
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What's your favourite weather?
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I think that depends on the circumstances, doesn't it?
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If I'm inside and the heating is on and there's like torrential rain outside, then I get quite a cozy feeling and obviously I'd want to stay indoors.
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On the other hand, obviously if it's scorching outside then I'd rather be out there getting a tan and sunbathing.
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Do you like the weather in your hometown?
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Usually.
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Actually, we're supposed to be the sunniest city in Scotland, which sounds like something of an oxymoron, doesn't it?
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We clearly do get our fair share of cloudless days, but usually in the summer.
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Right now it's not at its best.
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Do you like wet weather?
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Well, like I said, only if I'm indoors.
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I got caught in a cloudburst the other day and it looked, well, and I looked like a drowned rat, as did everyone else around me.
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That was not entertaining in the slightest.
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Do you prefer wet, hot or dry weather?
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I definitely have a preference for hot weather.
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You can be outside, get vitamin D from the sun, which is good for your skin and your bones, and it's just a better look all around.
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This is of course only of the humidity as though, because otherwise I think, well I can and I think other people do feel lethargic and ill.
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What do you do in hot weather?
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Well, assuming it's not a school day, I go out with my friends for walks along the beach
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or sit on the decking and soak up the sun while reading.
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I'm short of a heat wave, though.
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That's unlikely at the moment.
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But if that happened, then it would be like stay indoors and vegetate.
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Rory, thank you so much for your answers.
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Do you know that there's a technical term for a sunny, warm day which follows two rainy days?
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Is it nice?
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No, it's called Monday.
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It's a joke!
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Yeah, dear listener, I know that it's quite silly, but hopefully you just smiled and tolerated.
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Horrid jokes.
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listener, feel free to go and listen to the other episode about the weather.
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But the weather is a current topic in the IELTS speaking exam and it's going to be there,
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well, until January 2022, when they're going to add new topics.
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And maybe the weather will stay, we don't know.
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So Rory, you said that it's pretty dreary.
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Dreary weather.
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Yeah, dreary.
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It's grey, it's dark, it's wet, it's not nice.
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It's dreary.
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Yeah, so instead of saying bad weather, you can say dreary weather.
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Or you can also say grim.
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Can you say grim?
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Well, yeah, you could say it's pretty grim outside.
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Or gloomy or nasty.
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Yeah, really good examples.
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Can you say it's a dreary weather with an article?
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It's a dreary weather?
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No, you have to say it's dreary weather.
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Or the weather is dreary.
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Weather is uncountable, but it's not something that you can have an article with.
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Exactly.
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We do say "I have a good time", but we say "it's dreary weather".
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Or you can say "it's pretty dreary".
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You also said "damp".
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Cold and damp.
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Colder and damper.
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Yeah, you said the climate is getting progressively colder and damper.
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Damper.
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But that's just another way of saying it's getting worse or it's not getting better.
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So if something is happening progressively, it's sort of like it's increasing over time.
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It doesn't mean it's getting better.
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Usually people hear the word progress and they're like, woohoo, progress.
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But no, if something is happening progressively, it just means it's expanding over time.
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Mhm.
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And damper is like wet, but it's a negative word, like damp weather.
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Well, when we talk about weather, it's usually quite negative, but you can have a damp cloth, you put a damp compress on a wound,
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but we're not talking about injuries right now, we're talking about the weather.
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So, damp just means there's a lot of moisture, not just like rain in the air, but moisture on the surfaces of things, for example.
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Yeah, for example, it was a damp morning.
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So, kind of wet, but not pleasant. or comfortable.
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So a bit negative.
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Then you mentioned torrential rain.
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If there is torrential rain outside.
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Yes, but torrential rain is just like, well, if you think about the word torrent, it means a lot of water coming down in one direction.
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So torrential rain is a lot of rain coming down very, very quickly.
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So imagine monsoon in India, for example.
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when it's just like this.
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- It's like a shower.
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- Okay.
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But not a shower that you usually have a shower, right?
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Just shower like a rain.
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In Thailand, they have horizontal rain.
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So if you're from Thailand, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
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Horizontal rain when, you know, it's sunny outside, then bam, this is like rain happens.
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horizontally.
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Also, we mentioned, I said at the very beginning of the episode, it's bucketing down.
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Yes.
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So that means, well, it's torrential rain.
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That means there's lots of it.
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Mm -hmm.
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And you said raining cats and dogs.
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Yes.
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I think we've talked about it before, but do people usually say that?
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Like, do you friends in Scotland?
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No, it's a cliché.
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People only say if it's ironic, but I wanted to get it in because we were arguing about which coincidence to have at the start of the podcast.
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And I thought raining cats and dogs was a good one.
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But you said no, because it wasn't realistic and it's a cliché.
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But I was right.
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Yeah.
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Oh, you're always right, Rory.
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Scottish right.
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Okay, but to be more natural you can use "It's Bucketing Down" or usually "It Buckets Down" where I live, for example.
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So, if there is torrential rain, Rory gets quite a cozy feeling.
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Well, if you live in a place without terrible weather though, are there alternatives that we could use?
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You can say "I really enjoy dry weather".
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And it hardly ever rains.
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Or there is hardly ever any torrential rain.
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There is minimal precipitation.
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Oh, precipitation.
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It's like water falling from the sky. Is it?
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- Yeah.
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- No. - Precipitation.
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It's like all the rain that falls down.
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It's not just rain though, it's to do with water in general.
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Anyway, talk about precipitation.
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It's a great word.
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Precipitation, water that falls from the clouds towards the ground, especially as rain or snow.
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Hail and sleet are types of precipitation.
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Yeah, it's not just about the rain then, it's about everything.
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Yeah, but it's like a specialized word, but it's like a very high level, really specific.
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So if you can pronounce it, do you listen?
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Come on.
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Precipitation.
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Precipitation.
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There's very little precipitation where I live.
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And then you can say it's scorching, it's very hot, it's scorching outside.
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Yes.
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And if it's extra.. well, scorching is just a really high temperature, but if you have a very high temperature for a prolonged period of time,
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then it will be a heat wave.
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Oh yes.
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People die in heat waves.
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I didn't realize that until a few years ago.
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Oh.
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Apparently it's very common.
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Well, people die if it's freezing cold, if it's scorching, if it's a heat wave.
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But as someone who is from Scotland, which is not exactly known for its scorching weather, I don't really experience this.
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You said that you do get our.. we do get our fair share of cloudless days.
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So there's a couple of things here.
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To get your fair share of something is, well, to get what you deserve, basically.
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Or if you get more than your fair share of something, you get more than you think you deserve.
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Cloudless days are days without clouds.
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but instead of saying days without clouds we say cloudless days, cloudless skies, it's a cloudless evening, Are you having a cloudless day, Maria?
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Not today.
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It's been a bit crazy.
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We had snow plus rain together and the sun at the same time for about 10 minutes.
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Then blue sky, then gray sky.
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So it's like an Irish weather.
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It's like Irish weather.
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Yeah, there's something interesting going on there.
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Yeah, but in Scotland it's...
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well, you don't have summer in Scotland.
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Only maybe two days of summer?
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One day of summer, Rory?
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No, we have summer, thank you very much.
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Three days of summer?
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No, five?
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Really?
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No, do you know?
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The word summer in Scotland, I think it doesn't exist.
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Ha ha ha.
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No, we have summer.
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We had like 30 degrees the, well, not the other day, obviously, but we had 30 degrees Celsius in July and August.
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How dare you?
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Our weather is absolutely quality in the summer.
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Right now it's not really nice.
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It's dreary.
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Dreary and grim.
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Yeah, and then Rory told us a story.
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Rory told us a story.
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When he got caught in a cloud burst.
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and looked like a drowned rat.
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Do you have any pictures?
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No, thank god.
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So a cloudburst is when all of the water in a cloud comes down.
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So it's like a shower, like a literal shower, not as in a small bit of rain.
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It's like pouring down.
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And if you look like a drowned rat, then you're very, very wet.
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It's a simile.
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Oh, nice.
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That's a kind of idiomatic speech where you compare yourself to something and you say it's like...
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Like a drowned rat.
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Yes.
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Oh god, yeah.
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Can you imagine Rory looking like a drowned rat?
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All wet and cold.
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Oh, poor Rory. And small.
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Oh.
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Dear Listen, do you want to hug Rory and give him your warmth?
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You can also say "I got soaked through"?
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Yes, that's also something you could say instead of "I looked like a drowned rat"
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if you wanted to keep coming back to this idea.
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Rory definitely prefers hot weather.
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So he can get out and get vitamin D from the sun together with the vitamin C by the sea.
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Another joke for you.
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And get a tan.
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Get a tan.
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Rory, do Scottish people, are they able to get tanned?
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Most Scottish people can't.
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I think I'm one of the few Scottish people that can actually tan.
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Naturally, that is.
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And when you go tanning, you get vitamin D.
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And if you do not have sunny weather, or if you do have sunny weather, but there's lots of, like,
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the humidity is high, so there's lots of moisture in the air.
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then you can feel lethargic, which is like saying you feel tired.
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It's like a medical word for being tired.
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Yeah.
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So when the weather is grey, it's grim, you say, yeah, I usually feel lethargic.
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Lethargic.
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Like having little energy, feeling unwilling or unable to do anything.
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Like, oh, I was feeling tired and lethargic.
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Do you, dear listener, do you feel lethargic when it's all...
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gloomy and miserable and nasty.
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If you do feel lethargic you should go to a sunny place and soak up the sun.
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Yeah, I love this expression.
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I enjoy warm weather, I enjoy sunny days to soak up the sun.
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You can also soak up the atmosphere.
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- Glory, you can go with "soak up", it's a phrasal verb!
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- It is a phrasal verb, and if you like phrasal verbs, then you should check out our phrasal verbs course.
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Success with IELTS .com /podcourses.
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Did I get it right?
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I think so.
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Never mind.
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Just look up Google podcourses, honestly.
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Do you know, it's interesting, actually, because people send me messages every day saying they can't find things.
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And I like I always just think because I take forever to reply to messages.
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And if you aren't sure about where something is, please Google it first, because it's usually the top search result.
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And it will save you waiting for an answer from Maria or myself or anyone else who's working with us.
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Yeah, you can also go to successwithiELTS .com and you have all the information there, the links, and also there are the links to this episode.
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So just do check them out.
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And on our phrasal verbs course, we have more than, well, we have 15 lessons on different phrasal verbs.
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So yeah, that's really useful for your speaking.
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I think, Rory, we can wake you up in the middle of the night and ask you, Rory, phrasal verb course, and then you just tell us. about the Razorback course.
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I can tell you everything you want to know about that course, but you'd find out more permanent information on the website, and it's all laid out nicely by the people who do our website.
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Anyway, we've gone off on a tangent and we need to get back to talking about the weather.
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So, we've got a list of words that we could have used, but I didn't.
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However, they're all good for a band 9 score.
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Let's talk about how to talk about good weather.
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You can say I enjoy excellent weather.
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Ideal.
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The weather is usually lovely.
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Ideal weather.
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My ideal kind of weather, yeah.
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If you don't want to sound so happy about your weather, you could say it's appalling weather, the weather is dreadful, it's a gloomy day,
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it's a grim day, the weather is miserable, or it's nasty.
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or dreary dreary weather yeah also you mentioned humidity right humidity the weather can also be humid
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or muggy if the word is muggy.
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It's usually muggy.
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Yeah, although what does that mean?
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When the weather is muggy, it is unpleasantly warm.
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and the air contains a lot of water.
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So it's similar to...
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Does it contain a lot of water?
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Water?
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Water?
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Water?
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It contains a lot of water!
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You got any water mate?
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Yeah, so it's like sticky, humid, like it's unpleasant, so muggy.
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Oh, it's a bit muggy here.
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And if it's unpleasant, it could be unpleasant because it's unpredictable, so you don't know what to wear.
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Yeah, you can say the weather is usually unpredictable here.
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Unpredictable weather can be changeable.
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It can be very harsh, very bad.
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It can also be severe, severe winds.
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Yeah.
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Oh, we have harsh winters.
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We have harsh winters in Russia.
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Oh yeah, we do.
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But we have mild winters in Scotland.
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However, because we live next to the sea, it's changeable.
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Yeah, mild climate, mild winters.
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have this like thin layer of ice over everything.
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It can also, on a subject of ice, it can be icy or it can be wintry.
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Wintry weather.
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Wintry like also cold, right?
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Winter.
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Wintry weather.
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Also, you can say...
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The question could be: "What do you usually do?" in hot weather, right?
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And how can you use this expression "whatever the weather"?
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Yes, so "whatever the weather" just means "regardless".
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or the weather is irrelevant in the situation, you will always be doing something.
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So whatever the weather, he swims every day.
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Or he swims every day, whatever the weather.
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You can move the position of the phrase.
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When you want to know what the weather will be like, what do you watch or listen to?
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The weather forecast!
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Yeah!
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Don't say the weather report.
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Weather forecast.
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Forecasting.
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Forecast.
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Forecast.
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Yeah.
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Do you believe the weather forecasts, Rory?
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Absolutely not, but we live, where I live, we have what's called a microclimate, and It's actually its own weather system and its own climate.
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So while the weather forecast will be right in general for the whole country, because we live in this microclimate, weather forecast can be completely unreliable.
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Hmm.
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But what's not reliable is the fact that we are at the end of the episode.
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What else can you do in all weathers?
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Oh, whatever the weather.
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You could listen to our podcasts.
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We have more than one.
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This is the free one.
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But if you are interested in speaking parts two and three, or if you're interested in writing, or if you're interested in improving your phrasal verbs,
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we have everything you need.
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Tell us more.
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Yeah, we do have a writing podcast now.
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In three episodes, we are talking about the essays.
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graphs.
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Yeah, I know.
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Cool.
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We give you all the structure, the words, what to do, strategies.
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So do check them out.
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The link is in the description. Have fun.
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And as for the weather, we could all take a lesson from the weather.
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It pays no attention to criticism.
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This is my ending word for this episode.
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Thank you very much for listening.
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Bye.
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Bye.
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What's the weather usually like in your hometown?
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Well, right now it's pretty dreary, I'd say.
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We're moving from, well, we're moving from, what, summer into autumn.
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We're actually in the midst of autumn now.
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So the climate is getting progressively colder and damper as the days go by.
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What's your favourite weather?
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I think that depends on the circumstances, doesn't it?
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If I'm inside and the heating is on and there's torrential rain outside, then I get quite a cosy feeling and obviously I'd want to stay indoors.
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On the other hand, obviously if it's scorching outside, then I'd rather be out there getting a tan and sunbathing.
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Do you like the weather in your hometown?
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Usually.
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Actually, we're supposed to be the sunniest city in Scotland, which sounds like something of an oxymoron, doesn't it?
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We clearly do get our fair share of cloudless days, but usually in the summer.
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Right now it's not at its best.
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Do you like wet weather?
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Well, like I said, only if I'm indoors.
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I got caught in a cloudburst the other day and it looked, well, and I looked like a drowned rat, as did everyone else around me.
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That was not entertaining in the slightest.
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Do you prefer wet, hot or dry weather?
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I definitely have a preference for hot weather.
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You can be outside, get vitamin D from the sun, which is good for your skin and your bones, and it's just a better look all around.
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This is of course only of the humidity as low, because otherwise I think, well I can, and I think other people do, feel lethargic and ill.
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What do you do in hot weather?
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Well, assuming it's not a school day, I go out with my friends for walks along the beach
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or sit on the decking and soak up the sun while reading.
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I'm short of a heat wave, though.
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That's unlikely at the moment.
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But if that happened, then it would be like stay indoors and vegetate.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 382 sentences and 3424 words to shadow. The speech runs for 22:49. The speaker talks at a natural 150 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% 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 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- damp /ˈdæmp/ (adjective) — In a state between dry and wet; moderately wet; moist.
- podcast /ˈpɑdˌkæst/ (noun) — A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on…
- precipitation /pɹɪˌsɪpɪˈteɪʃn̩/ (noun) — Any or all of the forms of water particles, whether liquid or solid, that fall from the upper atmosphere (e.g., rain, hail, snow or sleet). It is a major class…
- forecast /ˈfɔːkɑːst/ (noun) — An estimation of a future condition.
- sunny /ˈsʌni/ (adjective) — Featuring a lot of sunshine.
- verb /vɝb/ (noun) — A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being.
- drown /dɹaʊn/ (verb) — To die from suffocation while immersed in water or other fluid.
- soak /soʊk/ (verb) — To be saturated with liquid by being immersed in it.
- grim /ɡɹɪm/ (adjective) — Dismal and gloomy, cold and forbidding.
- indoors /ɪnˈdɔɹz/ (adverb) — Inside, into, or within a building.
- cloud /ˈklaʊ̯d/ (noun) — A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air.
- vitamin /ˈvɪt.ə.mɪn/ (noun) — Any of a specific group of organic compounds essential in small quantities for healthy human growth, metabolism, development, and body function. They are found…
- humidity /hjuːˈmɪd.ə.ti/ (noun) — Dampness, especially that of the air.
- listener /ˈlɪs(ə)nɚ/ (noun) — Someone who listens, especially to a speech or a broadcast.
- autumn /ˈɔtəm/ (noun) — Traditionally the third of the four seasons, when deciduous trees lose their leaves, and temperatures and daylight hours decrease; typically regarded as…
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- talk about (verb) — Used to draw attention to the speaker's characterization of someone or something.
- do in (verb) — To kill or end; to defeat.
- come down (verb) — To descend, fall down, collapse.
- go by (verb) — To pass or go past without much interaction.
- live in (verb) — To reside on the premises of one's employer (used especially of domestic staff such as nannies, cooks, maids, etc.)
- sit on (verb) — To block, suppress, restrain (something).
- check out (verb) — To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
- come on /ˌkʌm ˈɒn/ — Come along with me; join me in going.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 59 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, I'm, doesn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thin /ˈθɪn/, cloth /klɒθ/, warmth /wɔɹmθ/, lethargic /ləˈθɑɹd͡ʒɪk/, sunbathe /ˈsʌnbeɪð/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: precipitation /pɹɪˌsɪpɪˈteɪʃn̩/, harsh /ˈhɑɹʃ/, examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, specialize /ˈspɛʃəˌlaɪz/
- Long words — get the stress right: precipitation /pɹɪˌsɪpɪˈteɪʃn̩/, humidity /hjuːˈmɪd.ə.ti/, examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, miserable /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/, horizontal /ˌhoɹəˈzɑn.təl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like damp, podcast, precipitation.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if your grandma will find · if it's scorching outside then I'd rather · if that happened, then it would be |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | sun, which is · someone who is · lethargic, which is |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | We've started · we've talked · we've gone |
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.