Shadowing Practice: [VOL 5] IELTS Listening Test 2 - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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version three zero six seven seven
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you will hear a number of different recordings
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and you will have to answer questions on what you hear
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there will be time for you to read the instructions and questions and you will have a chance to check your work.
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All the recordings will be played once only.
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The test is in four parts.
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Write all your answers in the listening question booklet.
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At the end of the test, you will be given 10 minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet.
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Now turn to part one on page two of your question booklet.
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Part 1 You will hear a telephone conversation between a customer and the manager of a house -sitting agency.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 1 to 6.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 1 to 6.
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Hello, Oz House Sitters.
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Adam here.
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Oh, hello.
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My husband and I are going on a trip overseas
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and we'd like someone to stay in our house and look after it while we're away.
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Is that something you can help us with?
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It most certainly is.
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We can take care of all the arrangements for you.
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OK, great.
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Now, can I just get some contact details from you for the form?
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Your name is...
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Jenny.
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Jenny Hall.
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Thank you.
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Now, what's your address?
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14 Grey Street.
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Is that G -R -E -Y or G -R -A -Y?
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A -Y.
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Right.
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And what's the suburb?
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Greenfield.
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Oh, I know it.
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And if I can just get a contact telephone number?
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I'll give you my mobile number.
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That's probably the best one to use.
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It's 0491 577 248.
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Thanks.
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Now, when did you want the house sitter to start?
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We're flying out on the 25th of September, but my brother will be in the house for a few days until the 28th.
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So, from the 29th of September, please.
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I'll note that down.
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And how long do you want the house sitter for?
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Well, I'll be attending a training course in Paris for two weeks,
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but we're also going to visit my niece in Singapore on the way home to Australia for a few days.
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So, shall I put down three weeks?
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That sounds about right.
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I think four would be too long.
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Sure.
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Now, Jenny, can you tell me more about the features of your house?
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This helps us to match house sitters and homeowners.
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Sure.
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What do you want to know?
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Does the house have air conditioning?
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No, we don't like using it.
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We prefer the fresh air.
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But last year, we did put in a pool.
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Very nice.
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And are there any other attractive features?
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Is your house near a beach, for example?
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No, not really.
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We're about an hour's drive away.
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But we are close to a station, so it's handy for anyone getting into work and so on.
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OK, great.
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Great.
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Now, if our house sitter has their own transport, is there any space for them to park?
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Well, we won't be taking our car, but it's a large double garage.
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There'll be space for one more.
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Okay, great.
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I'll note that down too.
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Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 7 to 10.
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Now listen and answer questions 7 to 10.
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And are there any special duties that you'll need the house sitter to carry out?
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Oh, I don't know.
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What do people normally ask for?
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Well, for example, one common chore is looking after the garden.
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Oh, yes.
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We have an orange tree and an apple tree, which are both watered automatically.
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But we haven't connected the sprinkler to our lemon tree yet, so they'll need to water that one.
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Sure.
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Now, Jenny, do you have any special requirements for your house sitter?
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Well, I don't know if this is possible, but I'd probably rather have a couple than someone who's single.
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The house might be a bit too big for just one person.
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Sure.
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Now, many of our owners ask for sitters without children.
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What's your preference?
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Oh, that's no problem.
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There's nothing they can break.
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What about smoking?
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Oh, no. I can't stand the smell.
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Definitely not.
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Now, how do I know that my house is going to be safe with the house sitters?
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Well, we check all of our house sitters very carefully.
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They have to provide references.
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But as well as that, you can ask for a police check if you want to.
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Oh, yes.
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I'd like to do that, please.
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OK, no problem.
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That's all I need for now.
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OK.
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that is the end of part one you now have one minute to check your answers to part one
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Thank you.
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Part 2
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You will hear a manager talking to staff of a graphic design company about the move to their new office building.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 15.
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Part 2.
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You will hear part of a radio program in
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which a successful businessman is advising listeners on how to become a self -made millionaire.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 11 to 16.
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Thank you.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 16.
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Everybody dreams of becoming a millionaire one day.
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So we asked Arthur Knowles, who made his millions in the plumbing business,
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to give the budding entrepreneurs among you a few tips on how to make your first million.
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Arthur, welcome to the programme.
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Thanks, Sue.
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So, Arthur, what advice do you have for our listeners?
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Well, one thing I've heard people say is that when you're starting up a business, you can't afford to make mistakes.
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Well, I believe in the old saying, a person who never made a mistake never made anything.
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You can't really predict when you'll make mistakes, and you have to look at them as a positive experience, and one that means you won't make the same mistake again.
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You need to be able to cope with the world of business.
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But according to recent American business school studies, Believing in yourself isn't enough by itself to guarantee success.
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Confidence can be a good thing, but a person can have too much confidence.
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And people who try to learn to be confident by buying those how -to -succeed books are just wasting their time.
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The advice given in these American studies was that being a successful entrepreneur comes down to having the right attitude.
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It's no good getting depressed every time something goes wrong.
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Always keep your goals in mind and never give up.
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And don't listen to all the people around you who say, oh, this will never work.
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One thing I've learned in business is that you don't have to be an expert in everything, like marketing, for example.
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When I started my business, I tried to do it all myself.
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But I soon realised that although I knew everything there was to know about plumbing, I didn't have much idea about how to sell my ideas.
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So, I got someone who knew more about this to take care of the marketing side of things for me.
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And as for leadership, well, you've got to be someone your workers look up to because you've been seen to make the right decisions.
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You have to be able to control people, but listen to them at the same time.
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Some people are driven to make their companies successful, but that too often leads to a ruthless approach.
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Then there's the question of taking risks, even calculated ones.
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I personally feel it's actually better to tread carefully when it comes to taking short -term risks.
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You need a degree of vision, certainly, but it's easy to get carried away by your desire to increase profits and if things go wrong,
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you can end up losing more than you gain.
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Now listen and answer questions 17 to 20.
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So, if you have a great idea for a business, what should you do next?
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Well, the first thing to ask yourself is whether there's a need for your product or service.
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Can you cater for people's needs better than existing companies?
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You don't need to worry about whether it's original or not, because there isn't always enough of a demand for completely new ideas.
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And the second thing to ask yourself is, not what colour should the packet be or how much should it cost,
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but do I care enough about this idea to dedicate the next ten years of my life to it?
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Because realistically, that's how long it will take.
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Tell us how you got started, Arthur.
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How do you explain your early success?
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Well, I started my business just as the economy was going into a recession, which wasn't the best time, and I was lucky to survive,
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especially as the banks weren't being particularly supportive to small businesses at that time.
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If I'd listened to the business advice I was given back then, I'd never have got started.
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My strengths were
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that I knew I could provide a better service than my competitors who really hadn't spotted the opportunities
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that were out there and that my wife had a good job
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and was able to pay the household bills while I was getting the company on its feet.
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The first couple of years were very tough but I knew I would make it eventually.
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Okay, now we're going to take some calls from listeners
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that is the end of part two you now have 30 seconds to check your answers to part two
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Section 3 You will hear two primary school trainee teachers called Stefan and Magda discussing their placements for science teaching.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26 on page 6.
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Thank you.
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carefully and answer questions 21 to 26.
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Hi Magda, how was your placement?
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It went really well.
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The kids really enjoyed the science I did with them.
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So did mine.
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I think they found it very motivating.
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Yes, the programme we had to teach was much better than the old style science experiments we did at school.
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Yes, though I don't understand why the children should have to build a model of a steam engine.
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I tried it with the kids, but I couldn't get it to work.
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Me neither.
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And it really shows it's hard to get any real results.
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Yes.
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And it's usually the children's parents, rather than the kids themselves, who favour that type of experiment.
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So what experiments did you do?
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Well, one day a discussion started in class about breakfast cereals, about which one was best.
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One child then said that we should test them in class.
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That's a nice idea.
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Yes, and it wasn't expensive.
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We brought four different brands of cereal and had everyone evaluate them for taste, appearance and sogginess in milk.
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And are you going to tell me which one won?
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No, I'll let you do it yourself.
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It obviously isn't difficult to set up.
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Another experiment we did, the sports teacher's idea actually, was to spend a morning seeing how high various balls bounced.
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For example, do new tennis balls bounce higher than old ones?
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And do basketballs that are fully inflated bounce better than flatter ones?
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And I guess you got some interesting data.
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We did.
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And they had to make a chart to plot the results.
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It really improved their grasp of charts and graphs and calculation.
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Apparently they'd had problems understanding the point of graphs in the past.
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Did all your experiments work out OK?
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Well, we had one lesson on making paper from grass.
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The children made a terrible mess in the classroom.
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Whatever they did didn't work.
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And it wasn't because it was difficult.
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I think it was because it didn't engage them at all.
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It didn't seem to motivate them.
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My tie -dying experiment went well.
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They had to get a piece of material and twist it into a rope and then dye it.
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The children did end up with blue and green hands for a few days though.
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But don't you need to spend more than one lesson on that?
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Yes, we did it over three classes.
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The children really loved it though, and one suggested we make scarves from the result.
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I declined, as my sewing skills aren't up to much.
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I guess the one experiment that everyone loved in my class was making glue from milk.
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I thought it would be a complete failure, but in fact it worked brilliantly.
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One reason, I suspect, is that they got feedback straight away.
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Some children get really restless if they have to wait for anything interesting to happen.
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Yes, I think that's always a good idea.
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Really helps to make it a success.
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Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 27
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Now listen and answer questions 27 to 30.
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i see you've got a diagram there for one of your
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experiments yes it was an idea i got from the internet it was very easy
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and straightforward to set up the idea is to make a
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condenser to extract essences from plants the large containers made of metal right
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and that holds the hot water that's right and it has a strainer
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which sits inside it this is where you put the plant matter We use plants like rosemary, as the essence you can extract is quite strong.
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So what's the container right at the top?
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It's made of glass.
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It's where we put the ice.
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The glass container has a drip tip at the bottom.
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What's that for?
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It's where the essence collects.
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Where does the essence go then?
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Into the dish at the bottom.
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It's made of pottery.
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Sounds good.
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I might try it with my class.
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That is the end of Section 3.
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You now have half a minute to check your answers.
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Now turn to section 4, on page 8.
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Part 4.
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You will hear part of a talk about recent research into the design of workplaces.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.
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Thank you.
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now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40
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hello everyone I recently completed some important research into the way office space is designed
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and its impact on employees the open plan office had been the norm for offices around the world.
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I'm sure you can picture one, a big room with maybe 50 or 100 workers sitting at their workstations.
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You might think open plan designs are a recent phenomenon, but they actually came about in the early 20th century,
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when businesses needed large numbers of people to do typing.
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These employees, usually women, used to have to sit in rows working away at their typewriters under the watchful eye of their supervisor.
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Over the years, designers have come up with several variations on the open theme.
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In particular, this has been achieved through furnishings.
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The early designs featured separate desks.
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A subsequent design introduced the concept of the cubicle.
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These can have either high screens that workers can't see over, or a screen just low enough to keep a lookout for the manager.
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Nowadays, with the increase in large call centres, a phenomenon known as hot -disking is common.
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In this system, employees working on different shifts are asked to share the same workstation.
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As you can imagine, this is not very popular with staff as there is little opportunity to personalise your workspace.
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in fact my research shows
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that employees in general dislike the open plan design as a
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part of my research I conducted a survey of the staff
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in several large companies with open plan offices the employees all voiced similar concerns about the design firstly they felt
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that the open plan took away their privacy
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but many also felt the need to carry their valuables with them at all times
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so to some extent they also felt there was less security with these designs.
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Another common complaint may be something for employers to consider
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when choosing this type of design and this was that these types of office space are bad for the health.
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I was intrigued by this possibility but looking at staff records, it does seem to be borne out.
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So if this design is so unpopular, why is it so commonplace?
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Well, the answer to that is in the benefits that the employers feel this type of design has.
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Of course, there is the obvious benefit that this design significantly reduces costs.
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both in terms of rent and even in terms of energy use.
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Employers also argue that an open plan design leads to better teamwork and communication.
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They also feel that new staff can learn from observing other workers, so this design can actually help in training staff.
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However, the complaints voiced by employees seem to suggest that the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages.
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The reality is that unhappy workers are unlikely to work well together,
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and there is plenty of evidence to suggest workers are frequently distracted from their work by the noise
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that is all around them.
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What is clear is that, as designers, we need to think carefully about the impact
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that our design has both on the staff involved and the work that they do.
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that is the end of part four you now have one minute to check your answers to part four
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Thank you.
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That is the end of the listening test.
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You now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the listening answer sheet.
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Thank you.
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Practicing English with a Real-Life IELTS Listening Dialogue
The video features a telephone conversation between a customer and a house-sitting agency manager, a common scenario that mirrors daily interactions. This type of dialogue is perfect for English learners because it uses natural, conversational language—exactly the kind you’ll need for exams like IELTS or real-life communication. Whether you’re preparing for a test or just want to sound more fluent, this conversation offers practical phrases and pacing to practice.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- “Is that something you can help us with?” – A polite way to ask for assistance, useful in any service scenario.
- “I’ll give you my mobile number. That’s probably the best one to use.” – Clear and direct, ideal for sharing contact details.
- “We’re flying out on the 25th of September, but my brother will be in the house for a few days until the 28th.” – Great for explaining timelines with exceptions, a common skill in planning.
- “Shall I put down three weeks? That sounds about right.” – A natural way to confirm details, showing flexibility in conversations.
- “I think four would be too long.” – Simple and effective for expressing limits, useful in negotiations or planning.
Step-by-Step Shadowing Guide to Master This Dialogue
Shadowing (or “shadowspeak”) is a powerful technique to improve English pronunciation and fluency. Here’s how to use the video for effective practice:
- Listen first, then repeat. Play a 5-second clip of the dialogue, pause, and repeat it immediately. Focus on matching the speaker’s tone and rhythm—this trains your mouth to form sounds like a native.
- Break down tricky parts. Phrases like “attending a training course in Paris” might feel fast. Slow the video down (most platforms let you adjust speed) and practice each word until it flows smoothly. This helps with English speaking practice by building muscle memory.
- Record yourself. After shadowing, record your version and compare it to the video. Notice differences in stress (e.g., “GREY Street” vs. “gray street”) and intonation—this will sharpen your pronunciation.
- Practice with a partner. Role-play the conversation with a friend. One person plays the customer, the other the manager. This mimics real interaction and makes learning English with videos more engaging.
- Repeat daily. Spend 10 minutes a day on this dialogue. Consistency is key—over time, you’ll notice your speech becomes more natural and confident.
By using shadowspeaks and focusing on real-life conversations, you’ll not only improve your IELTS listening skills but also build the fluency needed for everyday English. Start small, stay consistent, and watch your progress grow!
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 played · will be given · you've been seen |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | haven't connected · I've heard · I've learned |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | tree, which are · person who never · people who try |
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.