Shadowing Practice: Telstra senate inquiry bombshell | 9 News Australia - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Well, an outdated server has been named as the catalyst to Telstra's mobile network outage last week.
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For more, we are joined by CEO of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, Carol Bennett.
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Carol, thank you so much for your time this morning.
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A $30 ,000 software update could have prevented all of this.
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What does this say about Telstra's controls and their processes?
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despite the manufacturer recommending that over a period from 2022.
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The second decision was to
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reconfigure that piece of equipment but not document it and the third was not to upgrade that piece of equipment.
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So quite an issue of process and of culture clearly for Telstra.
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For me I'm unsure where the accountability is like who is to to blame for making that decision?
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Well that's a good question.
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There are a number of reviews underway.
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Telstra has its own review.
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by the regulator to look into this
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but either way you know it does point to some really big process and culture issues within Telstra.
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Absolutely 8 .8 million customers were impacted Carol do you think they'll receive any compensation?
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Well compensation did come up yesterday
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and Telstra have offered anyone affected by this outage some kind of assessment process so you can apply and Telstra claims.
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We know that 8 ,000 people have already applied and there are service credits being provided, 100 ,000 to date, but no reimbursement of payment.
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I know that you have been listening in on every single word
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that the Telstra CEO has spoken about this over the last week or so.
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Was there any reassurance from Telstra that this won't happen again?
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Well Telstra have apologised and the CEO Vicki Brady has returned from her holiday and been very proactive in letting the
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that Telstra is doing everything it can to avoid this happening again.
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We certainly want the assurance, but what we want more than the assurance is a change to the system.
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Telco is an essential service.
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We all rely on it for everything we do every day.
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We need to see an uplift in reliability standards, in things like domestic mobile roaming.
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and not just relying on companies who are acting in shareholder interests and not the public interest.
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I feel like...
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As Australians we had such an enormous sense of deja vu with this
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because we already had the catastrophic Optus outage last year.
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When you talk about needing reliability standards, what do you want to see in place?
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What do we need to see in place to make sure that this doesn't happen again?
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standards that are enforceable.
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You know the question is would this outage have occurred in the first place?
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We need those assurances.
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We need domestic mobile roaming.
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Australians, if their phone is is not connecting to their providers network can connect to another network.
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This happens in other countries.
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It's time for us to get serious about this.
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It's astounding to me that there aren't reliability standards in place.
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Carol, thanks so much for your time this morning.
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Thanks, Ali.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 44 sentences and 503 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:34. The speaker talks at a steady 141 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| reliability noun | The quality of being reliable, dependable, or trustworthy. | |
| assurance noun | /əˈʃʊɹəns/ | The act of assuring; a declaration intended to inspire full confidence; something designed to give confidence to someone. |
| connect verb | /kəˈnɛkt/ | To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object. |
| compensation noun | /ˌkɑm.pənˈseɪ.ʃən/ | The act or principle of compensating. |
| rely verb | /ɹɪˈlaɪ/ | To trust; to have confidence in; to depend. |
| occur verb | /əˈkɜː/ | To happen or take place. |
| assessment noun | /əˈsɛsmənt/ | The act of assessing or an amount (of tax, levy or duty etc) assessed. |
| server noun | /ˈsɝvɚ/ | A program that provides services to other programs or devices, either in the same computer or over a computer network. |
| enormous adjective | /ɪˈnɔː.məs/ | Extremely large; greatly exceeding the common size, extent, etc. |
| upgrade verb | /əpˈɡɹeɪd/ | To improve, usually applied to technology, generally by complete replacement of one or more components. |
| manufacturer noun | /ˌmænjʊˈfæktʃəɹə/ | A person or company that manufactures. |
| provider noun | /pɹəˈvaɪ.də(ɹ)/ | One who, or that which, provides a service, commodity, or the means for subsistence. |
| accountability noun | /əˌkaʊn.təˈbɪl.ə.ti/ | The state of being accountable; liability to be called on to render an account or give an explanation; liability to be held responsible or answerable for… |
| underway adverb | /ʌndəɹˈweɪ/ | In motion, in progress; being done or carried out; on a journey. |
| catalyst noun | /ˈkæt.ɪ.lɪst/ | A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without being consumed in the process. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come up verb | To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 5 contractions and reduced forms, such as aren't, doesn't, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: assurance /əˈʃʊɹəns/, compensation /ˌkɑm.pənˈseɪ.ʃən/, shareholder /ˈʃɛəˌhəʊl.də(ɹ)/
- Long words — get the stress right: compensation /ˌkɑm.pənˈseɪ.ʃən/, manufacturer /ˌmænjʊˈfæktʃəɹə/, accountability /əˌkaʊn.təˈbɪl.ə.ti/, regulator /ˈɹɛɡ.ju.leɪ.tɚ/, catastrophic /ˌkætəˈstɹɑfɪk/
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 reliability, assurance, connect.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been named · have offered · have already applied |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | has been named · are joined · were impacted |
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.