Shadowing Practice: The Underground House | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-4 - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
Section 4.
2
You will hear part of a lecture about an experimental design for a house.
3
First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.
4
Thank you.
5
Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.
6
Good morning.
7
In the last few lectures, I've been talking about the history of domestic building construction.
8
But today, I want to begin looking at some contemporary experimental designs for housing.
9
So, I'm going to start with a house which is constructed more or less under the ground.
10
And one of the interesting things about this project is that the owners, both professionals but not architects, wanted to be closely involved,
11
so they decided to manage the project themselves.
12
Their chief aim was to create somewhere that was as environmentally friendly as possible.
13
But at the same time, they wanted to live somewhere peaceful.
14
They'd both grown up in a rural area and disliked urban life.
15
So the first thing they did was to look for a site, and they found a disused stone quarry in a beautiful area.
16
The price was relatively low, and they liked the idea of recycling the land, as it were.
17
As it was, the quarry was an ugly blot on the landscape, and it wasn't productive any longer either.
18
They consulted various architects and looked at a number of designs before finally deciding on one.
19
As I've said, it was a design for a sort of underground house,
20
and it was built into the earth itself, with two stories.
21
The north, east, and west sides were set in the earth,
22
and only the sloping south-facing side was exposed to the light.
23
That was made of a double layer of very strong glass.
24
There were also photovoltaic tiles fixed to the top and bottom of this sloping wall.
25
These are tiles that are designed to store energy from the sun,
26
and the walls had a layer of foam around them too to increase the insulation.
27
Now, what is of interest to us about this project is the features which make the building energy efficient.
28
Sunlight floods in through the glass wall, and to maximize it, there are lots of mirrors and windows inside the house.
29
That helps to spread the light around.
30
So that's the first thing.
31
Light is utilized as fully as possible.
32
In addition, the special tiles on the outside convert energy from the sun and generate some of the house's electricity.
33
In fact, and it is possible that in future the house may even generate an electricity surplus,
34
and that the owners will be able to sell some to the national grid.
35
As well as that, wherever possible, recycled materials have been used.
36
For example, the floors are made of reclaimed wood,
37
and the owners haven't bought a single item of new furniture.
38
They just kept what they already had.
39
And then there's the system for dealing with the waste produced in the house.
40
This is dealt with organically.
41
It's purified by being filtered through reed beds, which have been planted for that purpose in the garden.
42
So the occupants of the house won't pollute the land or use any damaging chemicals.
43
It's true that the actual construction of the house was harmful to the environment,
44
mainly because they had to use massive amounts of concrete, one of the biggest sources of carbon dioxide in manufacturing.
45
And, as you know, this is very damaging to the environment.
46
In total, the house construction has released 70 tons of carbon dioxide into the air.
47
Now that's a frightening thought.
48
However, once the initial debt has been cleared, and it's been calculated that this will only take 15 years,
49
this underground house won't cost anything, environmentally I mean, because unlike ordinary houses,
50
it is run in a way that is completely environmentally friendly.
51
So, eco-housing like this is likely to become much more...
52
That is the end of section 4.
53
You now have half a minute to check your answers.
📺 Same Channel
B22
Dolphins | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-2
IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) With Answers | IELTS LISTENING SECTION-4
IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B22
Global Design Competition | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-3
IELTS PrepUniversity Students
B28
Win ridge Forest Railway Park | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-2
IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B22
New City developments | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-2
IELTS PrepHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B12
Type of Job Required With Answers | IELTS LISTENING SECTION-1
IELTS PrepInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B22
Rocky Bay Field trip | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-3
IELTS PrepUniversity Students
B16
Apartments Facilities Other Information Cost | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-1
IELTS PrepTravel EnglishUniversity Students
B21
Personal Assessment | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-2
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B12
Health Centers | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-1
IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
Subject of drawing Change to be made | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-3
IELTS PrepCambridge Exam PrepHigh School Students
C126
The use of soil to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-4
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B22
Improvement to Red hill suburb | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-2
IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B110
Changes in Barford over last 50 years | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-2
IELTS PrepHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
B23
Manham Port | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-2
IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B12
Dreamtime Travel Agency With Answers | IELTS LISTENING Section-1
IELTS PrepTravel EnglishUniversity Students
B22
In her Home Country | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-3
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B12
Transport from Airport to Milton With Answers | IELTS LISTENING SECTION-1
IELTS PrepTravel EnglishUniversity Students
B13
In the library George found | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-1
IELTS PrepHigh School StudentsUniversity Students
C110
Nanotechnology: technology on a small scale | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-4
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
✨ Recommend Video
B299
34 sentences
IELTS Speaking Part 3: Cities, Housing and Transport
American AccentBritish AccentIELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
63 sentences
Ielts! CAM19-listening-Test1-Part4
IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B22
301 sentences
Listening Practice Test OC7 | HOSTEL ACCOMMODATION IN DARWIN
IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
62 sentences
Vol 1 - test 9 - section 4
IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C14
46 sentences
Vertical farming: a new approach to growing crops: Đề thi IELTS LISTENING (actual test)
IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
828 sentences
1 Hour IELTS Listening Practice || Environment & Climate Change 🌍 || Advanced English Listening
IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
307 sentences
Cambridge 16 Listening Test 1 with Answer | #english #ieltslistening
IELTS PrepCambridge Exam PrepUniversity Students
B23
13 sentences
Dig Deep, Power a City
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C15
58 sentences
Ethnography in Business | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-4
IELTS PrepBusiness EnglishUniversity Students
C16
98 sentences
Water Heater | IELTS LISTENING TEST | SECTION-2
IELTS PrepTravel EnglishUniversity Students
C14
33 sentences
IELTS Listening Map with Answers and Script - Plan of Stevenson’s site
IELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B211
44 sentences
Band 8.0 Speaking Part 2: Describe your perfect house | IELTS with Charles
IELTS PrepCambridge Exam PrepUniversity Students
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 53 sentences and 658 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:05. The speaker talks slowly, about 108 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 84% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| tile noun | /ˈtaɪ.əl/ | A regularly-shaped slab of clay or other material, affixed to cover or decorate a surface, as in a roof-tile, glazed tile, stove tile, carpet tile, etc. |
| electricity noun | /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪsɪti/ | Originally, a property of amber and certain other nonconducting substances to attract lightweight material when rubbed, or the cause of this property; now… |
| layer noun | /ˈleɪ̯ɚ/ | A single thickness of some material covering a surface. |
| underground adjective | /ˌʌn.dəɹˈɡɹaʊnd/ | Below the ground; below the surface of the Earth. |
| experimental adjective | /ɪkspɛɹəˈmɛntəl/ | Pertaining to or founded on experiment. |
| generate verb | /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ə.ɹeɪt/ | To bring into being; give rise to. |
| lecture noun | /ˈlɛk.t͡ʃə/ | A spoken lesson or exposition, usually delivered to a group. |
| architect noun | /ˈɑɹ.kɪˌtɛkt/ | A professional who designs buildings or other structures, or who prepares plans and superintends construction. |
| dioxide noun | /daɪˈɑksaɪd/ | Any oxide containing two oxygen atoms in each molecule. |
| quarry noun | /ˈk(w)ɔɹ.i/ | A site for mining stone, such as limestone, or slate. |
| mirror noun | /ˈmiɹɚ/ | A smooth surface, usually made of glass with reflective material painted on the underside, that reflects light so as to give an image of what is in front of it. |
| carefully adverb | /ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/ | With care; attentively, circumspectly. |
| concrete adjective | /ˌkɑnˈkɹit/ | Real, actual, tangible. |
| efficient adjective | /ɪˈfɪʃənt/ | Making good, thorough, or careful use of resources; not consuming extra. Especially, making good use of time or energy. |
| ordinary adjective | /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/ | Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 8 contractions and reduced forms, such as I've, won't, haven't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/, insulation /ˌɪnsəˈleɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: electricity /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪsɪti/, experimental /ɪkspɛɹəˈmɛntəl/, ordinary /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/, insulation /ˌɪnsəˈleɪʃən/, organically /ɔːˈɡænɪkli/
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 tile, electricity, layer.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is constructed · was built · were set |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've said · have been · haven't bought |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | house which is · beds, which have |
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.