Shadowing Practice: IELTS Speaking Test Band 8.5 - Almost Perfect - Learn English Speaking with Video

Let's start off by talking about social media.

How often do you use social media?

I actually just started using social media like two years back during, I think like right after COVID.

So I wouldn't say I'm active as such, but I'm trying to get into it like a full-on hobby, but not really into it as of now.

Which platform do you use most often?

I don't know if I can say this, but right before COVID, we had Musical.ly, which is like the prior name for TikTok.

I was on it for sure.

I was binge watching it every single day.

And yeah, I think if you go back, you can find my old videos.

So that was the first ever platform that I use.

But right now, I think I'm mainly focusing on Instagram because of university and everything.

So it's between those two mostly.

Do you ever post content on social media?

Yeah, I actually post a lot of dance content because that's something I'm really passionate about.

So on Instagram, it's mainly dance or like places that I visit or with friends.

tiktok is just random things that we record as you know uni friends

and all of that now let's talk about your studies okay what are you studying at university

so i'm doing my bachelor's in marketing that wasn't really my first choice

because i wanted to do psychology and prior to

that i wanted to do aviation so it kept like it kept going back

and forth between those two but i finally decided on marketing

and do you like marketing i love marketing i feel like it was meant for me.

It's almost like it chose me.

Yeah, it's not like I chose it.

It's like it chose me.

So it just feels like I belong.

What career would you like to do in the future with marketing?

I really haven't thought about it because when they told us to choose a degree, I didn't know what to choose because, you know, I was barely 17 or 16 when I had to apply for university.

So I just thought that choosing marketing meant

that I would be in this really broad platform and the degree is so vast that, you know, you can go into any career you want.

But as of right now, I really want to get a name for myself and create a business or something.

So probably having a business of my own one day.

Now let's talk about fruit.

Okay.

What's the most popular type of fruit in your country?

Oh, so where we come from, there's mainly mangoes, but I think in South of India, they really love jackfruit.

They basically involve it in every single thing, in every drink, in every food and curry mainly.

So yeah, it's jackfruit, mango, those two for sure

and what's your favorite fruit mango any day are there any types of fruit

that you really don't enjoy I don't know I mean there's nothing

that I hate as such

but I feel like dragon fruit does not really have much flavor I don't know maybe it's just my experience

but I think I might like it

if I try it again it's been a few years

so do you like eating cooked food that has fruit in it um

that could be a controversial topic it really depends on what like you can't

if you're saying pizza for example i hate the whole concept of pineapple

and pizza i feel like it ruins it completely

but overall yeah i guess why not go have a little bit of risk taking you know

and where you live where do people normally buy their fruit

okay just jumping in to give you our free gift we analyzed hundreds of about seven eight

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and we analyzed the vocabulary we've put all the best words phrases idioms into one pdf for you

If you would like that, go to the description, click on the link.

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You can download it 100% for free.

So where I'm from in India, people usually buy from street vendors.

I feel like it's also really affordable, but it depends on which class you come from.

If you're more on the higher side, people do go to malls and shop from there.

But like middle class and lower class, it's always on the street.

It's just better for all of us.

Now let's talk about walking.

How many steps do you normally get in per day?

this is is it like before university started or after

because it's going crazy right now i think i've walked 20 000 average every day yeah

and when you were in school did you walk less than now i mean we did have school transport right

so comparatively yeah

but i also was really involved in a lot of physical activities i was on the athletics team

and all of that so it really depended on the everyday thing

because athletics was like twice a week or something of that but But right now, as I'm walking every day, obviously the steps just keep on increasing. So, yeah.

Do you like to live in a place that is walkable?

Oh, I love it.

Right now where we're living, I feel like everything is very accessible.

There's metro nearby, there are malls, and universities are also not really far.

So I feel like just having that sense of, you know, accessibility is always good.

This is an Indian movie.

It's called Zindagi Na Milegi Dubara, which is a Hindi movie.

and I think that was like one of the first movies I saw

if I'm being very honest

but the thing is back in the day it had a lot of meaning

and I don't think I would have you know understood that

because it was a really deep meaning

but I remember watching it like two months ago

and I feel like I missed out on so much just

because you know that age difference was there obviously

and it speaks a lot about how you live such a small life

and you know time goes by really fast

and you meet all these people and there's so much to the world

that you don't really see so yeah Zindigino Zindagi Na Millegi Dubaire was obviously something

that I wish I could rewatch for the first time again and with friends.

It's just such a beautiful movie that talks about, you know, these three guy friends who go to Spain as a vacation trip

and they come across a lot of fun activities and they just have a really amazing time.

So I'm pretty sure that's something that really would have encouraged me and my friends to, you know, take up now.

It really did change my mindset on life.

And I think that's the main reason why I wish I want to travel the world

and experience every culture and see how people, you know, are in every country and what they like about themselves.

And yeah, just overall, I just want to learn a lot of new things

and experience new cultures and travel with my friends yeah

so probably that um what else i would say

100

that oh there were a lot of scenes

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which involved um you know where they were talking about this is one friend

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that was really scared to take risks

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and towards the end of the movie he loved experiencing new things he was very adventurous

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and i feel like that's something

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that you know really teaches you to take risks in your life

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because you never know you might actually have fun doing it

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and yeah so i think that's probably going to be my favorite movie.

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So we've been discussing a movie and we're going to continue to talk about the theater, plays and acting.

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In your country do people often go to the theater or plays?

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100% I feel like a huge part about our culture and just our country in general is the movie, the art, the music.

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I feel like it really plays such a huge role

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and it's not just locally I feel like even internationally our movies hold such a big value

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so yeah you can really see that you know um curiosity

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and eagerness to watch those new movies and that excitement

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that people have built up and

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that energy you know you can really see it through the audience

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so i think it's a huge huge huge part of our

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country is it easy to get tickets to big shows um it really depends

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if you're it's like first come first serve so

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if you book early you're lucky otherwise you do have to

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wait in the line for sure maybe watch it like three months after it's released

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or on netflix or whatever television platform

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that you have yeah do you think the tickets should be cheaper for younger people yeah i

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if you would like your speaking assessed one-on-one we do offer

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that as part of our vip package to thank you for

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watching the video i'll offer you 10 off all you have

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to do is just go to the description click the link

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and you can get 10 off today i wish it was free you know

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because back in the day when I was like two

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or three years old and my dad would have to pay the tickets even then

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because I would usually fall asleep in the theater.

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So I do wish

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that you know it would be free for at least until like six years old

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and then after that yeah you can do the regular payment for sure.

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Yeah.

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Now let's talk about acting.

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Why do people want to become actors?

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Oh this is funny because as a kid I would love to act.

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I remember you know sitting in my room I wouldn't let anyone know I would be recording like audition videos

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and I would pretend like I was the casting director as well as the auditioner

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and I would record videos and I think the huge like the main reason why is

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because obviously who doesn't want to be seen on the big screen

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so that's surely one of it just knowing that you're a star

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and many people across the world are going to be seeing you

145

and are going to be in awe of you

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and you know just that whole idea of being famous and being loved by so many people, I think that automatically just brings so much energy into you.

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And yeah, I just feel like it's such a great experience.

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It's very different.

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It's obviously very saturated as well now because there are a lot of people there.

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But I feel like it's really competitive.

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And if you get through it, it's great.

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It's amazing.

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Your life is set pretty much.

154

To become a successful actor, what are the qualities someone should have?

155

Patience, for sure.

156

I feel like you do have to keep auditioning again and again until, you know you find a role that's suitable for you

157

and obviously talent but I feel like you can build up on talent no one's born with talent

158

so it's just a lot of hard work just really training yourself to you know go through every day

159

and practice and patience and resilience basically

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and do you think there are any drawbacks to becoming an

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actor 100% at least now at least in my country I

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feel like there is a lot of drama you know within the society

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and within the career degree whatever I feel like it can

164

be very bad in terms of mental health I've seen a lot of cases where actors have

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because they've been going through a lot of backlash and all of

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that so I feel like it can be bad sometimes

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but also if you avoid all that negativity

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and you avoid all those bad comments which is obviously difficult

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but if you somehow do manage to create that barrier and

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that wall and if your guard is really high up I think you can get through it

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so let me give you some feedback on part one, part two and part three of your test and then we'll talk about your scores and how you can improve.

172

Overall very very good.

173

Part one, the thing I love about your performance is you're so enthusiastic.

174

Like you were a little bit nervous before the test but that I could not tell at all.

175

Maybe it was the nervous energy coming out.

176

Yeah I had butterflies in my stomach throughout the whole thing but got through it.

177

Some people when they're very nervous, make lots of mistakes.

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You didn't.

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I was really admiring your performance because you were enthusiastic

180

and speaking quite quickly and and with enthusiasm but what normally happens

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when somebody does that is they can make a lot of fluency errors

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or they can make a grammar and vocabulary

183

that wasn't the case it was someone speaking at a very high level enthusiastically

184

so that that's great i've been told that when I get nervous I speak really fast.

185

You, so you're from India and it is a, not a common weakness, I wouldn't call it a weakness, this is a common trait of many Indian speakers.

186

I think when you're speaking your native language you speak very quickly and that you translate that to when you're speaking English.

187

If someone has a very strong Indian accent and they speak very, very quickly it can affect the examiner's ability to understand you you do not have

188

that problem so you're speaking a little bit quickly

189

but I don't mean too fast I just mean in general quickly

190

and you're speaking clearly which is very very good believe me

191

if you were speaking too quickly I would tell you to slow down I'm not going to say

192

that to you because if I tell you to slow down you're going to be thinking about

193

that in the test and you're going to be conscious of that and we don't want you to be thinking of that.

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We want you just to naturally answer the question.

195

So do not worry about that.

196

It's very, very good.

197

Part two, you didn't make any notes.

198

I just, I noted that down.

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I was doing it in my head.

200

So if you can do it in your head, you have an 18 year old brain.

201

I do not.

202

So I have a 43 year old brain.

203

I cannot do that.

204

I could do it when I was 18.

205

I can't do it.

206

But if can do that that's fine

207

but i would recommend as you said i'm making you feel

208

comfortable yeah you seem like a nice person nice people

209

when they meet people who are not nice to them yeah normally can oh what am i doing like

210

and then get a little bit nervous yeah i'm not saying every examiner will be

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that that way but it is a possibility it is a possibility

212

that they are tired they are grumpy not everyone will be

213

that way but it could happen and they're not doing their job wrong

214

if they're they're doing maybe they're just tired and they're really focusing

215

and it takes energy to be nice to people all day um

216

so they might just be lacking in energy and they need

217

that the last of the remaining battery to to do your scores accurately

218

and the smiles are not not coming if

219

that happens I would recommend for part two making a few notes of like what are other things

220

that you could talk about add a few more things

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so describe a play like what was the play about what

222

or what was the film about how did you feel about it

223

and what happened in it are there any actors or actresses

224

that you really admire in there what are they like just

225

add a few notes of like easy things for you to talk about

226

so if you run out of things to say you can just look at your notes and start talking again.

227

I think you'll be fine.

228

Yeah.

229

But the, um, I did kind of forget what I had planned.

230

Yeah.

231

So I mean, I understand.

232

But you talked about that for, uh, for, for nearly two minutes, exactly.

233

Um, so no problems for part two, part three, again, you develop your answers really, really well.

234

Um, you expanded on your answers.

235

You gave examples.

236

Um, I would have no, no problems with part three and you handled those questions.

237

Are you familiar with that topic or is that a topic you love?

238

No, I just thought of it on the spot.

239

Okay, great, great, because the way you were speaking about it was like you were talking about something

240

that you were really passionate about.

241

No idea.

242

Okay.

243

I wish I did, but no. That's even more impressive.

244

If it was like you're a movie buff and you love acting, then I would be like, oh okay, what if you get a topic you're unfamiliar with?

245

But if that was an unfamiliar topic and you performed at that level, excellent.

246

You know, you're doing really well.

247

So let's talk about pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary.

248

There's one area that I think you can work on more than others.

249

Now, probably your strength is fluency.

250

So the speed of your voice affects fluency and it affects pronunciation.

251

We've already talked about why it can affect pronunciation.

252

It can affect fluency if you speak too quickly because you kind of trip over your own words.

253

Sometimes you don't do this, by the way.

254

But some people who speak too quickly, their voice, their lips are going faster than their brain.

255

Yeah.

256

Your brain and your mouth are going kind of at the same speed.

257

So you've no problem with that.

258

Again, you're 18, so your brain is probably firing on all cylinders.

259

So no problems there.

260

If you were speaking very quickly and then because some people, they speak really quickly, but they're constantly going, you don't do that.

261

Oh, I felt like I did.

262

You do it a little bit, but not unnaturally.

263

Okay.

264

So it's totally fine.

265

If you were stumbling and you were running out of things to say

266

and you were having multiple audible pauses that sounded very unnatural, I would tell you just take a beat and slow down.

267

But one of the things that is just very impressive about you is how enthusiastically you speak.

268

And I would never tell someone to not be themselves if

269

that is a plus if that helps them sometimes people are themselves

270

and it doesn't help them what they're doing you know

271

and we need to change that a little bit you are being yourself

272

and being and performing really really well so I think fluency

273

and coherence are a big strength for you pronunciation the examiner is thinking can I clearly understand what she's saying?

274

You do.

275

You don't have really any accent interference.

276

You can definitely tell you're from India.

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But the good news is

278

that the IELTS test does not judge you on do you have an Indian accent

279

or a British accent or an American accent.

280

You can have an Indian accent that is really clear

281

or an Indian accent that is impenetrable and no one can understand it.

282

You have one of the very clear ones.

283

So again, that's great that you are being yourself.

284

Our accents are part of our identity.

285

So, you know, it's really...

286

I'm embracing it.

287

You're embracing it, which is excellent, you know, and keep doing it.

288

Your enthusiasm, if we are.. sometimes people come in and they speak with a monotone, everything is very flat.

289

My name is Chris, I am from Ireland.

290

And what we do is like get them to try and pretend to be enthusiastic.

291

Yeah.

292

Because that forces if you feel enthusiastic about something, you naturally your intonation goes up and down.

293

We don't need to do that with you because you're naturally enthusiastic, just an enthusiastic person.

294

So your intonation is really, really good.

295

I think you get a very, very high score for pronunciation as well.

296

So fluency and pronunciation, excellent.

297

Grammar, I spotted a few small errors from time to time none of them are major

298

and they're very infrequent so it's not something I would really worry about.

299

I think you can get one of the very high marks despite little slips from time to time.

300

I would maybe need to listen back and listen a little bit more carefully to

301

but I didn't on first listen I didn't really identify anything.

302

Vocabulary is a tricky one so for many Indian people

303

that I work with they have been taught

304

that they have to use advanced vocabulary and they often learn lists of vocabulary

305

and it ends up that they try

306

and sound more advanced than they're capable of uh uh they're they're using vocabulary

307

that is above their level and they use it incorrectly you don't do

308

that at all and you use

309

if you were using very advanced vocabulary what we our advice would be would be just use simpler words

310

that are that you know they're sure and correct

311

so let me give you some examples you said it's such a beautiful movie they do fun activities, they have an amazing time.

312

So beautiful, fun, amazing.

313

These are all just normal words that are correct, they are appropriate.

314

I hate telling people to try and use more advanced vocabulary, especially when they're using it correctly and appropriately.

315

But if I had to give you some advice, if I had to say this is a negative, which I don't think it really is, as I say, I hate giving this advice,

316

you could maybe use a wider range of more advanced words, but you're only 18, you're going to study in an English speaking university.

317

Yeah.

318

By the time you're 22, you will have a much wider vocabulary anyway, because we don't stop learning vocabulary at 18.

319

I think in a few years, you will just naturally learn and be able to use much more advanced vocabulary.

320

So right now to get into university, you do not need any more vocabulary because to get into the university, you want to get it.

321

You only really need 6.5 or 7.

322

You're well above that.

323

You're way above that.

324

So if I tell you, don't say beautiful movie, don't say fun activities, don't say amazing, say something more advanced.

325

Yeah.

326

You're going to attempt that and mess it up.

327

Yeah.

328

And if you do that again and again, you'll get a, you will get below the score that you need.

329

Yeah.

330

So I would suggest strategically use the vocabulary you naturally use, which is perfect.

331

It's great.

332

And as you go to university and you study in English and you get, because we can't force vocabulary into somebody's head.

333

Yeah.

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The best way to learn vocabulary is naturally over a long period of time.

335

Yeah.

336

The human brain is controversial how many new words, but it's something like around 10 a day.

337

Okay.

338

If you are studying marketing at an English speaking university,

339

you will naturally learn about 10 new words a day over the course of three or four years.

340

That's a lot of words like that.

341

That's a lot.

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Plus just watching English movies, reading English books.

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So what I'm saying is you are on the right course.

344

Yeah.

345

And for your age, you're amazing.

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Very, very, very good.

347

So you're way above most Indian people attending an undergraduate degree in an English-speaking university.

348

So you're doing very, very, very well.

349

I feel good hearing that.

350

Yeah, you're doing amazingly well.

351

I have nothing else to say.

352

Any questions?

353

No, it was great.

354

No?

355

Well done.

356

Thank you.

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Imagine sitting across from an IELTS examiner, answering questions about social media, your studies, and even fruit—this is exactly the scenario in a recent video featuring a Band 8.5 speaking test. The dialogue feels natural, not scripted, making it perfect for IELTS speaking practice. The speaker balances fluency with detailed responses, showing how to connect ideas (like switching from TikTok to Instagram for university) and add personal flair (admitting dragon fruit lacks flavor). This is the kind of real-world conversation that helps you learn English with YouTube, as it mirrors the casual yet structured tone examiners love.

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Ready to practice? Try shadow speech with this video. Play a 5-second clip, pause, and repeat it exactly—focus on the speaker's rhythm, stress, and pauses. Notice how they say "mango any day" with emphasis, or "I really haven't thought about it" with a natural hesitation. If you don't have a shadowing app, just use YouTube's slow-motion feature to break down tricky parts. This exercise will boost your fluency and improve English pronunciation by training your mouth to move like a native. Do this for 10 minutes daily, and you'll start sounding more confident in no time—just like the Band 8.5 speaker!

Grammar in this video

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

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	we've been discussing · they've been going
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	haven't thought · we've put · i've walked
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was meant · was really involved · be seen
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	Dubara, which is · friends who go · comments which is

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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