Shadowing Practice: TOEFL 2026: Listen and Repeat - Tips, Strategies and Examples - Learn English Speaking with Video

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okay so listen and repeat is really hard

when we first learned about the new toefl most of us thought the listen

and repeat would be like the easiest part of the test

but we were all wrong i've heard from a ton of people who find listen

and repeat to be not only the hardest part of the

new toefl speaking section basically like the hardest part of the whole test

I've had a ton of requests to make a video about this.

I had to think about it and do a bunch of practice tests on my own.

And today I'm going to tell you what I know.

I'm going to give you some strategies.

At the beginning, I'm going to just describe the question, give you some of the insider details about how it's made.

Then I'll give you a sample.

And after the sample, I'll give you some strategies and methods that you can prepare for this test with.

Okay, so basically here's how it works.

You're going to hear seven sentences, one after another.

Each time you hear a sentence, you have to repeat what you heard.

It's going to start with two short sentences, and by short I mean nine to eleven syllables, pretty short.

And then there's going to be three medium sentences between 14 and 16 syllables.

So a little bit longer.

And then at the end, there's going to be two long sentences, which are going to be like 19 to 23 syllables.

Yeah, those are pretty darn long.

So these last two, that's where everybody has like the biggest challenge.

The amount of time you have to repeat it is different for each group.

For the short sentences, you have eight seconds each.

For the medium sentences, 10 seconds each.

And for the long sentences, 12 seconds each.

That's actually more time than you're going to need, which we'll get back to in a minute.

Just keep in mind, it's a different amount depending on how long the sentence is.

And as I've been advising all my students, you got to like understand like the mechanics.

Basically, you're going to hear the sentence, then you have to wait two more seconds.

Then it's going to go beep, and then you talk.

Don't talk before the beep, or you're going to mess it all up.

So again, listen, wait, beep, and then talk.

In terms of scoring, you're scored based on your intelligibility.

intelligibility.

That's a tough word.

And your accuracy.

Intelligibility just means like your pronunciation, whether or not somebody can actually understand you when they listen to you.

And your accuracy is basically how accurate your repetition is.

To give you a little bit more detail, here's the top part of the scoring guide.

You get a score between one and five, and these are the top two scores.

I'll put a link in the video description if you want to read the whole thing.

But basically, to get a score of five, you've got to be perfect, fully intelligible, and you need to have an exact repetition of the prompt.

So like no mistakes at all, 100% accurate, and they need to fully understand what you're saying.

Okay, pretty straightforward.

You can understand that.

To get a score of four, it's almost perfect.

Like I won't read the whole thing.

You can pause the video if you want, but you're allowed to make minor changes in words or grammar that don't really change the meaning of the prompt.

So you could like miss one or two function words.

A function word is like a or the or it, you know, those kind of function words that appear a million times in sentences.

So you could change like one, maybe two, and that's it.

That's all you can do.

you get a four no more than that

or you could miss like one content word

and replace it with something else

so like instead of saying like I don't know pen you might say pencil

and that's that mistake will get you down to four you can make little mistakes of tense aspect

or number so it's like instead of saying computers you might say computer that'll get you down to four

You could transpose words, that is like you mix up the order.

And then you could have one or two problems with pronunciation um just one or two

so not very many basically to get a score of three two one you just make more mistakes um

so you got to be really good uh this is a pretty unforgiving part of the test

yeah you make like one little mistake you're bumped down to four

but but keep in mind that it's a little more complicated than that, and I will get to it when I talk about strategy.

Also, I want to mention

that there will be like an image on the screen that's going to change slightly each time you have a sentence.

So basically, I took this one from the ETS website.

I don't even know what the sentences were about, but it's like something about a desk, obviously.

And then one of the sentences will be about the computer monitor, and then the monitor will be highlighted.

Another sentence might be about like sending mail and then this envelope will be highlighted or another sentence about the clipboard, the clipboard will be highlighted.

I don't know.

Some people say like the image will help you.

I don't know about that.

Like I kind of tend to ignore the image, but like maybe, I guess you could look at the image as you practice

and see if looking at it helps with your memory.

Like, I guess that's what it's there for, so yeah, try it out.

Anyways, I am going to show you a sample question now.

This one won't have images because I'm too lazy to make them, but everything else is going to be just like the real test.

Two short sentences, three medium, two long.

They all have the right length, and there's a pause and a beep.

So, So if you're watching this video for the first time, you can give it a shot.

See if you can repeat them.

Afterwards, I will talk about strategy.

So these ones are about the library.

Here goes.

The library opens at 8 each weekday.

Its second floor is meant for quiet study.

You can borrow laptops at the desk beside the front entrance.

The library cafe serves drinks and snacks until late afternoon.

Upstairs the media room has printers and large computer screens.

On the first floor, students can ask research questions and get help finding books for class projects.

During finals week, the library stays open longer, so students have more time to study and prepare.

Okay, so there's the sample.

Those last two sentences were pretty long and pretty challenging, but it has the right number of syllables, so that's what you can expect to get.

Now, leave a comment down below.

Tell me how you did practicing there, because, yeah, I'm curious, right?

Anyways, in terms of strategy, like there's a few things I want to mention.

And first and foremost, you have to practice.

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Like ultimately, this is a skill that can be learned and trained and improved upon, right?

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Like ultimately, that's it.

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This could be like the only useful tip I give you in this video.

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You have to practice it.

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And I don't mean practicing like 10 sentences or 20.

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or even 50.

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I mean, practice 100 sentences, 200, 300.

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I mean, each one, you could do a whole set in like two minutes.

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So there's nothing stopping you from doing like 20 sets a day between now and the time you take the test, right?

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Sample questions are like pretty easy to find.

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I've got some on my website.

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I'll put a link.

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There's other websites like My Speaking Score has a ton.

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I'll put a link there.

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But even if you just Google like TOEFL, listen and repeat, there's some dudes out there that are putting up like 100 videos.

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The quality of those are a little iffy, but it doesn't matter because you're just practicing this skill.

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So go ahead and just use whatever you can find.

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And then also you can do general shadowing.

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If you don't know what I mean by shadowing, just look it up.

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There's YouTube videos about it.

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But basically shadowing is just when you listen to a thing and then just kind of repeat like what you hear.

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It's not like TOEFL listen and repeat style.

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It's just you're repeating anything.

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I used to teach someone who did this to prepare for the old TOEFL

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and he said he would just sit down

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and watch like shows on Netflix every night and he would just repeat like all the dialogue in the show.

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That was his approach and then he got a really good TOEFL speaking score.

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So consider that.

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Sample questions, general shadow as much as possible.

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Next up, a real like strategy might be to like master the first five.

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Remember how I said there's two short, three medium, two long?

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Get those easy points.

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Make sure that you like really master those first five.

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And so look, look, you're graded on a scale of like one to five, and they all seem to have equal weight when it comes to your final score.

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So if you get

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five five five five five and then three

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and three on those two hard ones you get three you're still getting like 4.5 out of five

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which is an amazing score and listen

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if you really like shit the bed on those last two

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and you get five five five five five two two you're

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still getting four out of five as your total score

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which is still pretty good and i think most people will be happy with.

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And look, getting two is not hard.

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You can get two.

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I assure you of that.

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If you're watching this video, you can get two.

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So just keep that in mind.

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Get those easy points, especially the first two.

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And then, yeah, those middle ones are kind of hard, but if you really practice, you can get those.

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Keep that in mind.

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Next up, as you're practicing, it's probably easier to sort of chunk the sentences.

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Instead of just trying to remember them word by word, just try to remember the sentences in terms of chunks.

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And what I mean is just like logical collections of words.

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So one of them in the practice we just did was you can borrow laptops at the desk beside the front entrance.

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Try to remember it not just like word by word, but first remember you can borrow laptops at the desk beside the front entrance.

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So like, and it's logical because like the first chunk is just the action that's gonna be done.

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And then the second chunk is the location.

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Same for this next one.

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Upstairs, the media room, that's the first chunk is kind of the location.

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And then has printers and large computer screens.

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That's like the description or the action.

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And then even for the really long ones, you can kind of logically chunk it.

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During finals week, that's the time period.

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The library stays open longer.

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I guess that's the thing that's happening.

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So students have more time to study and prepare.

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That's the reason.

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So you're just chunking it out that way.

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Now, it's not always going to be easy to chunk these in kind of logical, you know, blocks.

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sometimes the sentences just aren't really designed that way

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but it is a good approach as you practice i want

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to encourage you to experiment a bit with taking your time

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this is how i answer them um after i hear it i wait for the beep

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and then i wait a little bit longer

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and as i'm waiting i say it in my head and then i say it out loud

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because I've got like eight or 10 or 12 seconds, but it only takes, you know, six or seven seconds to actually say the sentence.

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So I do feel it's okay to wait a little bit and get it all organized and then say it out loud.

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You could even do that, you know, before the beep.

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Don't feel obligated to speak as soon as it goes beep.

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You're not going to be penalized if you wait a little bit.

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Now, like, I hesitate to give this advice because some people, they're probably saying, oh no, if I wait, I'm going to forget it.

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I got to get it out as long as it's fresh in my mind.

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Okay, that's fine.

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What I'm saying is try it out.

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See if this works for you.

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Which brings me to the last strategies, experiment.

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As you're practicing, find out what works best for you.

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Like everybody's memory kind of works a little bit different.

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So just see what works best for you.

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Try it out.

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You know, for instance, when I'm doing the really long ones, I'm sort of mentally repeating it,

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the first chunk, even before the second chunk is finished.

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And it's a weird mental process

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but I've sort of tried to be mindful of how my brain works when I'm remembering and repeating things.

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And that's how it goes.

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So even before the sentence finishes, I'm sort of repeating it in my head.

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And some of my students do the same.

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It works for them.

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But for others, maybe not.

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So you should experiment a ton.

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See what strategies work best for you.

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Like some students, I didn't mention it because I really don't like the idea.

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Some of them are actually taking notes, right?

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They kind of scribble down some of the key words, like as they're listening and even in that sort of that break before the beep.

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It seems to work for them, I guess.

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So that's something you can experiment with.

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Just try different ways of remembering things and different ways of repeating things.

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It'll help, I promise.

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All right, so I am going to leave it at that.

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That's all.

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If you have any questions, you can leave a comment down below.

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I like to come by every few days and I answer all the questions if possible.

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You can also find my website, which is tofellresources.com, where you can sign up for one-on-one lessons or essay evaluations by email,

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or you can just sit and read practice questions and guides that I've published there.

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That's about it.

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I am I'm gonna make some more videos in the next little while.

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I'll probably put up one video next week

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but on the 20th I am going to give a speech about English tests in London.

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so after that I'm going to take a little break from the YouTube channel

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but maybe I'll post some pictures from London in the community page anyways

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so that's all for now

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but again it's great to connect with you guys I always love reading your comments

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and questions so feel free to just like leave them down below

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and if you've watched all the way to this end of the video, leave a comment telling me so just so you know that people are tuning in all the way through.

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All right, that's it.

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But take care, guys, and I will talk to you again soon.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 225 sentences and 2593 words to shadow. The speech runs for 17:57. The speaker talks at a steady 144 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 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

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
chunk noun	/t͡ʃʌŋk/	A part of something that has been separated; a generally squat, thick, irregular piece of something, e.g. wood or stone.
shadow noun	/ˈʃædəʊ̯/	A dark image projected onto a surface where light (or other radiation) is blocked by the shade of an object.
desk noun	/dɛsk/	A table, frame, or case, in past centuries usually with a sloping top but now usually with a flat top, for the use of writers and readers. It often has a…
experiment noun	/ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/	A test under controlled conditions made to either demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of…
entrance noun	/ˈɛn.tɹəns/	The action of entering, or going in.
laptop noun	/ˈlæp.tɑp/	A laptop computer.
highlight verb	/ˈhaɪˌlaɪt/	To make prominent; emphasize.
beside	/bɪˈsaɪd/	Next to; at the side of.
logical adjective	/ˈlɑd͡ʒɪkəl/	In agreement with the principles of logic.
anyways adverb	/ˈɛn.iˌweɪz/	Anyway, anyhow, in any case.
borrow verb	/ˈbɑɹ.oʊ/	To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it.
skill noun	/skɪl/	A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.
monitor noun	/ˈmɑ.nɪ.tɚ/	Someone who watches over something; a person in charge of something or someone.
accuracy noun	/ˈæk.jɚ.ə.si/	The state of being accurate; being free from error; exactness; correctness
pause noun	/pɔːz/	A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
put up verb		To place in a high location.
find out verb		To discover, as by asking or investigating.
get back to verb		Return to (an activity)
go ahead verb	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	To proceed with; to begin.
mix up verb		To mix or blend thoroughly and completely.
sit down verb		To assume a sitting position from a standing position.

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	will be highlighted · is meant · can be learned
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	i've heard · I've had · I've published
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	people who find · sentences, which are · someone who did

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 71 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shadow /ˈʃædəʊ̯/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, collections /kəˈlɛkʃənz/, evaluation /ɪˌvæljuˈeɪʃn̩/, assure /əˈʃʊɹ/
Long words — get the stress right: experiment /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/, accuracy /ˈæk.jɚ.ə.si/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, evaluation /ɪˌvæljuˈeɪʃn̩/

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 chunk, shadow, desk.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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