A trip to India - a listening

This is a very good example of the type of interaction you may have to perform in the oral exam. So take your time to listen to it carefully and read the script. Following it as a way of example, and using the prompts given in the "Real World" section in the following up exercise, you will be asked to role play a similar conversation in class.

 

LISTENING "ACCIDENTS" , pg. 109

Listening exam training

These are a series of listenings so you can have a bit more of guided training for the exam. We will work on some of them in class this week, as long as time allows.

They are organised in the same order as the tasks in the copy I gave you in class.

Track 2

 

Track 17

 

Track 14

 

Track 26

   

Track 20  

 

Track 27

 

Four people talking about health

This listening presents four speakers talking about different aspects related to health.

 

1. Who is who?


You are going to hear 4 people giving their opinion about alternative medicine. Listen once. Just try to identify the speakers.

            an ex-smoker                            a traumatologist                  

  a professional sportsperson         a homeopathic doctor / hoƱmiə’pæθik

        

       a traditional doctor                             a surgeon  

     an acupuncteur                      a physiotherapist  /ˌfɪzɪəˈθerəpɪst/

                                            
 

2. For or Against? Listen to each speaker again. Is he/she for or against alternative medicine? What is his/her main argument?

1) for / against  -  why?

2) for / against  -  why?

3) for / against  -  why?

4) for / against  -  why?

Dream house - a listening

Here you have a listening so you can have some more practice on the topic of Housing. I gave you the task in class, but just in case, you can download it here, together with the key.

Cleaning the windows of the world’s tallest building

Listen and fill in the gaps with one or more suitable words.

1.   The Burj Khalifa tower is more than ___________________ of the Empire State Building.

2.   The tower is composed of 120.000 ______________________.

3.   The ____________________ has been won by an Australian company.

4.   The machines lower people down the side of the building so that they can get to the windows and _______________________.

5.   It takes _____________________ to do a whole cycle and get the building cleaned completely.

6.   It is not possible to ___________________ the cleaning system completely since the façade systems which are used are tricky.

7.   Many of the facility managers in the big buildings ask to be told when certain areas will be cleaned so that they can ____________________.

8.   Even though the cleaners do need to keep hydrated they do not need to take _____________________.

Download exercise and key

The media - extra listenings

When we saw The Media I gave you some photocopies in class, but we couldn't work on the listenings. Here they are so can do them at home.

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.5

2.6

A new home for sustainable banking

In this video, we are shown one of the buildings that were refurbished to house an office for Triodos Bank in Bristol.

What parts of the building do they mention?

What adjectives do they use to describe them?

Listening exam practice - The world of work

So far we've worked on la lot of vocabulary, a few listenings and some grammar. Let's now test it all with a few exam-type listenings. We'll work on the first two in class.

The first listening is about a male model talking about his career.

The second listening is about creativity in business and how to enhance it.

Listen to an excerpt from a local radio programme. The presenter is interviewing passers-by in the city centre about the nomination of Liverpool as European Capital of Culture 2008.

Decide whether these statements are true or false.

               

1. The first speaker is going to open a hotel to take advantage of the increase in tourism in 2008.

2. The cost of buying a house has increased since Liverpool was named Capital of Culture.

3. The second speaker is looking forward to the opportunity to party.

4. Hollywood film companies are going to move to the city.

5. There is already a lot of construction work in the streets.

6. The last speaker thinks that people are much more positive since Liverpool was chosen as Capital of Culture.

7. Listeners will shortly be able to hear one of the people in charge of the cultural programme for 2008.

Around a castle

Relative pronouns practice and revision

 

Extreme weather conditions

A few sentences to refer to the weather:

It hasn't rained a drop in months!

Tell me about it! It's so difficult to breath in this scorching weather! 

I've never seen such scorching weather in my life!

And the humidity! It kills me! I just hope it cools down soon.

It's been almost two months since the last rain.

Rain levels are much lower than usual. It hasn´t rained even half of the monthly average.

I'm very concerned about my crops/ orchard/ allotment.

And a few fact and figures about British Weather:

Decide if these sentences are true or false

1. The UK has 189 days of rain a year.



The Lake District in the UK

2. All our rain comes from the Atlantic Ocean.
3. Much of our rain starts 4000 miles away in the Atlantic.
4. Every drop of our fresh water comes from the oceans.
5. It's a never ending cycle.
6. Swansea is the wettest city in the UK.
7. The Lake District gets 69 inches of rain a year.
8. It rains on average 111 days a year there.
9. Rainguage Cottage is probably the wettest cottage in England.
10. Emily Pratt feels proud of living in the wettest place.
11. The floods of 2009 happened after 5 days of heavy rain.
12. It was described as a once in a thousand year weather event.
13. The power of the great British weather should never be under-estimated.

Environment interaction sample

For last week's topic Emmi and I decided to act out a conversation in front of the class, so you have accurate guidelines on what to do in the oral exam. 

The situation in context

 We're doing a degree in Environmental science. Emmi is a sophomore whereas I'm a freshman. We've been selected to write an article for the university magazine about environmental issues in our region. We're meeting to discuss the topic and see what ideas we can come up with together. Let's see what we sorted out:

   

Nice structures to be used in an oral exam

Toya

Emmi

... and how we tend to act... I remember seeing some pictures... It’s high time something was done about that. Sewage and waste waters have been dumped into Mar Menor. Something should be done about... If we surveyed the locals we could include some of their perspectives. .... after people had separated... Nothing was done. Some people could have solar pannels installed on their roofs. (have something done)

How exciting! So you used to take the bus. You’re forced to pollute. Due to... Even though the changes haven’t been significant, the biodiversity has still been affected. If people knew more about the topic of environmental issues, then they would be more interested in making changes. Agriculture is affected by periods of severe drought. The initiative has to be taken by the government. Let’s get to writing!

of course don't forget question tags!

And vocabulary 

As regards Invironmental issues Cutbacks Industrial impact Sewage & waste waters Oysters, sea horses Droughts Gather opinions Waste collection system Draw attention Solar panels  Subsidize	Car exhaust fumes Promote environmental awareness City council Cardboard Organic waste That’s pretty shocking The three Rs: reuse, reduce & recycle Hydropower Windpower

The power of nature - An ice tsunami

            Breaking news

Wall of Ice Rises Out of Lake, Destroys Homes

A tsunami-like wave of ice called an ice heave destroyed a dozen two-story homes in Minnesota.

blast............ explosion
heap............ pile
shard........... a piece of broken glass

A real time home-made video showing the breathtaking view of this vast mass of ice moving towards their homes, running over everything on its way and crawling up the walls. Absolutely amazing.