Shadowing Practice: IELTS Speaking: Why Perfect English Hurts Your Score - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “IELTS Speaking: Why Perfect English Hurts Your Score”. This video has 353 sentences and 3645 words to shadow. The speech runs for 23:53. The speaker talks at a natural 153 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| patience noun | /ˈpeɪ̯.ʃəns/ | The quality of being patient. |
| examiner noun | /əɡˈzæmɪnɚ/ | A person who investigates someone or something. |
| impatient adjective | /ɪmˈpeɪʃənt/ | Restless, short of temper, and intolerant of delays. |
| interact verb | /ɪn.təˈɹækt/ | To engage in communication and other shared activities (with someone). |
| disadvantage noun | /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/ | A weakness or undesirable characteristic; con; drawback. |
| emotion noun | /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/ | A person's internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data. |
| hinder verb | /ˈhɪndɚ/ | To make difficult to accomplish; to act as an obstacle; to frustrate. |
| impatience noun | /ɪmˈpeɪʃəns/ | The quality of being impatient; lacking patience; restlessness and intolerance of delays; anxiety and eagerness, especially to begin something. |
| fluent adjective | /ˈfluənt/ | That flows; flowing, liquid. |
| cheat verb | /ˈt͡ʃiːt/ | To violate rules in order to gain, or attempt to gain, advantage from a situation. |
| podcast noun | /ˈpɑdˌkæst/ | 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… |
| demerit noun | /dɪˈmɛɹɪt/ | A quality of being inadequate; a disadvantage, a fault. |
| fluency noun | /ˈfluːənsi/ | The quality of smoothness of flow. |
| influencer noun | /ˈɪnflu.ənsə(ɹ)/ | A person who or a thing which influences. |
| outburst verb | /ˌaʊ̯tˈbɝst/ | To burst out. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| sit back verb | To recline while still in a seated position, with one's back on the frame of the seat. |
| work together verb | To be coworkers with someone; to share a workspace with someone. |
| calm down verb | To become less excited, intense, or angry. |
| come down to verb | To reach by moving down or reducing. |
| come out with verb | To say (something) unexpectedly. |
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
| get back to verb | Return to (an activity) |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What's your favorite local food?
- How often do you eat traditional food?
- What's the most important lesson you've learned recently?
- What's your absolute favorite way to spend free time?
- What's your favorite thing to shop for?
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 talking |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | hasn't necessarily changed · has helped · you've learned |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who who · people who work · students who can |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was needed · is typically associated · can be fixed |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 115 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: mythology /mɪˈθɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, apathetic /ˌæpəˈθɛtɪk/, empathetic /ˌɛmpəˈθɛtɪk/, unhealthy /ʌnˈhɛl.θi/, therapist /ˈθɛɹəpɪst/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: patience /ˈpeɪ̯.ʃəns/, impatient /ɪmˈpeɪʃənt/, emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, impatience /ɪmˈpeɪʃəns/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: examiner /əɡˈzæmɪnɚ/, disadvantage /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/, influencer /ˈɪnflu.ənsə(ɹ)/, mythology /mɪˈθɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/
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 patience, examiner, impatient.
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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