ENGLISH LISTENING COMPREHENSION

Transcription

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2 ENGLISH LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEACHER S COPY 30 minutes Procedure for Task One (8 marks) Look at Task One. (Allow 15 seconds pause while students familiarise themselves with the page.) Listen carefully. You will listen to the passage twice. Now listen to the facts. If you wish you may start answering the questions as you listen. Interesting facts from around the world 1. More people speak Mandarin Chinese than any other language. 2. Eskimos are surrounded by snow for most of the year. This is reflected in their language which has 20 different words to describe snow. The Arabic language has even more words for camel. 3. Kung Fu in Chinese means play time. 4. At some Greek weddings, guests do not give presents to the bride and groom, but pin money onto the bride s dress. 5. There are twenty times as many sheep in New Zealand as there are people. 6. In Tibet it is good manners to stick your tongue out at guests. If you invited an Arab family to dine with you, do not be surprised if they burp loudly after the meal. They are only being polite and showing you how much they enjoyed the food. 7. There are more dogs in Paris than there are children. 8. In some restaurants in China you can choose a snake which is cooked for you there and then. 9. At midnight on New Year s Eve, many Spanish people eat 12 grapes. They hope it will bring them good luck in the year to come.

3 Listen carefully to the exercises Number 1: Underline the correct word a) (Mandarin Chinese, French, English) is the most widely spoken language around the world. (4 seconds) b) Eskimos have snow (all year round, in summer, in winter). (4 seconds) c) Eskimos have (15, 20, 25) different words for snow while Arabs have a lot of words for (cat, cow, camel). (4 seconds) d) Kung Fu is in (Chinese, Spanish, Italian) and it means (nap, dinner, play) time. (4 seconds) e) In Greek (funerals, weddings, graduations), guests do not give presents. They pin money on the (bride s, flower girl s, mother-in-law s) dress. (4 seconds) Number 2: Fill in the table with the words in the box: Arab countries Spain China Tibet a) Guests burp loudly showing that they enjoyed the food. b) On New Year s Eve people eat 12 grapes for good luck. c) You can choose a snake at a restaurant. d) Guests stick their tongue out during dinner.

4 Now listen to the facts again. Interesting facts from around the world 1. More people speak Mandarin Chinese than any other language. 2. Eskimos are surrounded by snow for most of the year. This is reflected in their language which has 20 different words to describe snow. The Arabic language has even more words for camel. 3. Kung Fu in Chinese means play time. 4. At some Greek weddings, guests do not give presents to the bride and groom, but pin money onto the bride s dress. 5. There are twenty times as many sheep in New Zealand as there are people. 6. In Tibet it is good manners to stick your tongue out at guests. If you invited an Arab family to dine with you, do not be surprised if they burp loudly after the meal. They are only being polite and showing you how much they enjoyed the food. 7. There are more dogs in Paris than there are children. 8. In some restaurants in China you can choose a snake which is cooked for you there and then. 9. At midnight on New Year s Eve, many Spanish people eat 12 grapes. They hope it will bring them good luck in the year to come. Listen to the exercises again. You may finish this task as you listen. Number 1: Underline the correct word a) (Mandarin Chinese, French, English) is the most widely spoken language around the world. (4 seconds) b) Eskimos have snow (all year round, in summer, in winter). (4 seconds) c) Eskimos have (15, 20, 25) different words for snow while Arabs have a lot of words for (cat, cow, camel). (4 seconds)

5 d) Kung Fu is in (Chinese, Spanish, Italian) and it means (nap, dinner, play) time. (4 seconds) e) In Greek (funerals, weddings, graduations), guests do not give presents. They pin money on the (bride s, flower girl s, mother-in-law s) dress. (4 seconds) Number 2: Fill in the table with the words in the box: Arab countries Spain China Tibet a) Guests burp loudly showing that they enjoyed the food. b) On New Year s Eve people eat 12 grapes for good luck. c) You can choose a snake at a restaurant. d) Guests stick their tongue out during dinner. You have some time to check your answers. (30 seconds) This is the end of Task One. (Allow a 30 second pause between Task 1 and 2).

6 Procedure for Task Two (12 marks) Look at Task Two. (Allow 50 seconds pause while students familiarise themselves with the page.) Listen carefully. You will listen to the passage twice. Now listen to the story. If you wish you may start answering the questions as you listen. Peter was famished! It was nearly two o clock and he had not eaten since breakfast. Peter asked his mum if she would stop at a fast food restaurant on their way home from his baseball game. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. His mother absolutely loathed fast food, but with over 300,000 fast food restaurants in the United States, she found it hard to avoid them. They were everywhere! While at a restaurant, Peter s mother began to talk about some of the strange and unusual food eaten by people around the world. In China, for example, some restaurants serve bird s nest soup made from nests of swallows. Peter was not aware that in Columbia movie-goers may purchase paper cones filled with fried ants as a snack. He was relieved that theatres in the United States served popcorn instead of fried ants. His mother also told him about fugu, a special kind of fish served in Japanese restaurants. If not prepared correctly, fugu can be highly toxic. Those who cook it must be specially trained, so the diners do not get sick or die from their meal. Much safer meals included the horse-meat sandwiches served in restaurants in the Netherlands and the grilled guinea pig enjoyed in South American countries. As his mother was explaining how Scottish cooks prepare haggis, a boiled sheep stomach stuffed with oatmeal, Peter began to feel nauseated and asked her to please stop talking until he had finished his lunch. Looking at Peter s pale face, his mother took pity on him and promised not to talk about any more strange foods. She did remind him, though, that just because the food was different from what he was used to eating, it was not necessarily bad. In fact, people in other countries enjoy their food as much as Peter enjoyed fast food. Peter agreed that was probably true, but now all he wanted to enjoy was an ice-cream cone for dessert.

7 Listen to the exercises and complete them. Number 1: True, False or No Information Given (NIG). Tick the correct box. a) It was in the morning when Peter realised that he was hungry. b) Peter and his team mates won the baseball match. c) His mother loved fast food. d) In China, they serve swallows nest soup. Number 2: Fill in with words from the text a) In Columbia, during a movie, they serve fried as a snack while in the United States is served. (20 seconds) b) Fugu is a special served in Japanese. If not cooked properly people can get or even die. (30 seconds) c) Peter wanted an for dessert. (10 seconds) Number 3: Tick the correct answer a) Toxic means: poisonous good clever b) Nauseated means: sleepy hungry sick

8 Number 4: Join column A with column B Column A a) haggis b) grilled guinea pigs c) horse-meat sandwiches Column B South America The Netherlands Scotland Now you have 15 seconds to join column A with column B. Listen to the story again. Peter was famished! It was nearly two o clock and he had not eaten since breakfast. Peter asked his mum if she would stop at a fast food restaurant on their way home from his baseball game. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. His mother absolutely loathed fast food, but with over 300,000 fast food restaurants in the United States, she found it hard to avoid them. They were everywhere! While at a restaurant, Peter s mother began to talk about some of the strange and unusual food eaten by people around the world. In China, for example, some restaurants serve bird s nest soup made from nests of swallows. Peter was not aware that in Columbia movie-goers may purchase paper cones filled with fried ants as a snack. He was relieved that theatres in the United States served popcorn instead of fried ants. His mother also told him about fugu, a special kind of fish served in Japanese restaurants. If not prepared correctly, fugu can be highly toxic. Those who cook it must be specially trained, so the diners do not get sick or die from their meal. Much safer meals included the horse-meat sandwiches served in restaurants in the Netherlands and the grilled guinea pig enjoyed in South American countries. As his mother was explaining how Scottish cooks prepare haggis, a boiled sheep stomach stuffed with

9 oatmeal, Peter began to feel nauseated and asked her to please stop talking until he had finished his lunch. Looking at Peter s pale face, his mother took pity on him and promised not to talk about any more strange foods. She did remind him, though, that just because the food was different from what he was used to eating, it was not necessarily bad. In fact, people in other countries enjoy their food as much as Peter enjoyed fast food. Peter agreed that was probably true, but now all he wanted to enjoy was an ice-cream cone for dessert. Listen to the exercises again. You may finish off any remaining exercises as you listen. Number 1: True, False or No Information Given (NIG). Tick the correct box. a) It was in the morning when Peter realised that he was hungry. b) Peter and his team mates won the baseball match. c) His mother loved fast food. d) In China, they serve swallows nest soup. Number 2: Fill in with words from the text a) In Columbia, during a movie, they serve fried as a snack while in the United States is served. (20 seconds) b) Fugu is a special served in Japanese. If not cooked properly people can get or even die. (30 seconds) c) Peter wanted an for dessert. (10 seconds)

10 Number 3: Tick the correct answer a) Toxic means: poisonous good clever b) Nauseated means: sleepy hungry sick Number 4: Join column A with column B Column A a) haggis b) grilled guinea pigs c) horse-meat sandwiches Column B South America The Netherlands Scotland Now you have 15 seconds to join column A with column B. You may have time to check your answers. (1 minute) This is the end of Task 2 and the end of the Listening Examination.

11 ANSWER SHEET Task 1 Number 1 (½ mark each = 4 marks) a) Mandarin Chinese b) all year round c) 20, camel d) Chinese, play e) weddings, bride s Number 2 a) Arab countries b) Spain c) China d) Tibet (1 mark each = 4 marks) Task 2 Number 1 (1/2 mark each = 2 ½ marks) a) False b) NIG c) False d) True e) True Number 2 (1 mark each = 6 marks) a) ants, popcorn b) fish, restaurants, sick c) ice-cream Number 3 a) poisonous b) sick (1 mark each = 2 marks) Number 4 (1/2 mark each = 1 ½ mark) a) haggis Scotland b) grilled guinea pigs South America c) horse-meat sandwiches The Netherlands