Shadowing Practice: Vol 3 - test 10 - section 2 - Learn English Speaking with Video

Part 2.

You will hear a radio program in which a man called Stephen talks about an organization called ExtraHands.com.

First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 15.

Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 15.

Stephen Jennings has been involved with an intriguing organization called ExtraHands.com.

I'll let him explain.

Thanks.

Yes, ExtraHands.com was started 15 years ago by two New Zealanders who'd bought an old farm building and some land.

They wanted to go organic, but they realized they'd need help clearing the fields for cultivation, and they just didn't have the money to pay for it.

But they knew lots of people wanted to visit New Zealand.

So they set up a website and advertised for volunteers to come and help on the farm there.

Anyway, they got lots of volunteers and they got their farm going and extrahands.com was born.

Today the organization matches people who need help with people who are willing to work as a way of seeing the world.

You can either be a host, if you need assistance, or a volunteer, if you're offering to work.

In either case, to become a member, you just fill out a form on the extrahands.com website and pay the $25 subscription.

You only have to do that once.

But for your membership to stay active, every 12 months you have to go back to the website and check the details on your form there,

adding information about any help you requested or work you did over that period.

So how does it work?

Well, if a host has some work that needs to be done,

he or she goes to the extrahands.com website and posts a description of the work.

So the way most volunteers access these details on the website is by specifying the country

or region they're interested in working in, but a few search according to how long they want to work for.

Not many people have strong feelings about what sort of work they want to do.

They're mostly fairly open about it.

If you're interested in volunteering for a particular job,

you can email your host to arrange the dates and establish things like accommodation and hours of work.

It's all fairly informal.

There are no legal documents or anything like that.

But you do both need to have some sort of written record of what's been agreed before you actually arrive.

What about problems?

Well, there are too many members for the organization to be able to investigate them all.

But there's an online message board where members can post details of any difficulties they've had.

Things like unsatisfactory accommodation or volunteers who haven't done the work agreed.

And this works very well.

Before you hear the rest of the program, you have some time to look at questions 16 to 20.

Now listen and answer questions 16 to 20.

I know you've personally had lots of extrahands.com placements, Stephen.

Tell us about them.

Well, my first placement was in Portugal, where I helped a local guy with a guidebook he'd written in English.

I read what he'd written and corrected the English and made some suggestions for improving it.

I was very pleased with it when I finished, and I learned lots about the country.

The next placement was on the other side of the world, in Australia.

I was on a farm in the middle of nowhere, and since I'm pretty good in the kitchen, they had me fixing meals for thirty sheep shearers.

I stayed two months, and it was a lot of fun, but I can tell you I was glad to get back home to California and just lie on a beach and relax.

Okay, then, after a well-deserved rest, I did a job in South Korea for a small company that wanted an English speaker to show visiting Americans around.

They gave me some books to read, and I learned as I worked.

I loved it, and I developed a real taste for Korean food.

My most difficult job was for an older lady in the USA.

She had a gigantic house and grounds, but she couldn't maintain them all herself.

So I worked for her, digging and planting flowers and stuff around her swimming pool.

And she grew tons of vegetables, too.

She was nice, but she fed me hot dogs morning, noon, and night.

Now, my most recent placement was last summer in Italy.

I helped a family add a room onto their house.

I didn't speak Italian or know the first thing about building, but the husband had an English-Italian phrasebook,

and together with sign language showed me exactly what to do.

And the wife's cooking was out of this world.

Thanks, Stephen.

And if you want more information about...

That is the end of Part 2.

You now have 30 seconds to check your answers to Part 2.

Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 63 sentences and 820 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:39. The speaker talks at a steady 123 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 86% 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
volunteer noun	/ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/	One who enters into, or offers themselves for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.
placement noun	/ˈpleɪ̯smənt/	The act of placing or putting in place; the act of locating or positioning; the state of being placed.
accommodation noun	/əˌkɒm.əˈdeɪ.ʃən/	Lodging in a dwelling or similar living quarters afforded to travellers in hotels or on cruise ships, or students, etc.
meal noun	/ˈmiːl/	Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.
membership noun		The state of being a member of a group or organization.
carefully adverb	/ˈkɛɹf(ə)li/	With care; attentively, circumspectly.
establish verb	/ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/	To make stable or firm; to confirm.
flower noun	/ˈfloʊɚ/	A reproductive structure in angiosperms (flowering plants), often conspicuously colourful and typically including sepals, petals, and either or both stamens…
nowhere adverb	/ˈnoʊ.(h)wɛɹ/	In no place.
organic adjective	/ɔːˈɡænɪk/	Pertaining to or derived from living organisms.
arrive verb	/əˈɹaɪv/	To reach; to get to a certain place.
thirty noun	/ˈθɝti/	A commercial lasting 30 seconds.
difficulty noun	/ˈdɪfɪkəlti/	The state of being difficult, or hard to do.
investigate verb	/ɪnˈvɛs.tə.ɡeɪt/	To inquire into or study in order to ascertain facts or information.
relax verb	/ɹɪˈlæks/	To make something loose.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
do over verb	/ˈduˌoʊvɚ/	To cover with; to smear or spread on to.
fill out verb	/fɪl ˈaʊt/	To complete a form or questionnaire with requested information.
get back verb		Return to where one came from.
go back to verb		To stem from; to originate in.
set up verb	/ˌsɛt ˈʌp/	To make ready for use.

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	has been involved · was started · was born
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has been involved · haven't done

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 16 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, he'd, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: accommodation /əˌkɒm.əˈdeɪ.ʃən/, establish /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/, suggestion /səˈd͡ʒɛst.ʃən/, sheep /ˈʃiːp/, subscription /səbˈskɹɪpʃən/
Long words — get the stress right: accommodation /əˌkɒm.əˈdeɪ.ʃən/, difficulty /ˈdɪfɪkəlti/, investigate /ɪnˈvɛs.tə.ɡeɪt/, cultivation /ˌkʌltɪˈveɪʃən/, unsatisfactory /ˌʌnsætɪsˈfækt(ə)ɹi/

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 volunteer, placement, accommodation.

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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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?