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Transcript

IGCSE ESL Listening Skills

Paper 2: Listening guidance

Form of the paper

Key Points

General Overview

Part 1 is a monologue, and you listen for factual, detailed information.

Part 2 is a dialogue (always one man and one woman), and you need to understand different opinions and attitudes as well.

Part 3 is a longer monologue or dialogue, and you need to listen for overall message as well as for opinions/attitudes.

  • use the exact words you hear: don't paraphrase, don't make them plural, don't alter them in any way!
  • check how many words is the maximum you can use in the question - use that number or fewer, and make sure all key detail is in there (e.g. two words or fewer: 'ice skating' is correct, 'skating' is incorrect - not specific enough.
  • double-check your answers on the second listening.
  • don't leave any gaps - if in doubt, guess.
  • practise by: listening to songs (checking lyrics), listening to the radio, watching tv and films with or without subtitles.
  • Paper 2 is 45 minutes long.
  • The exam is worth 1/3 of your total mark in the IGCSE.
  • There are three sections, each worth 10 marks.
  • The sections get harder as they go on.
  • You will hear each recording twice: this may seem unnecessary, especially for Part 1, but do double-check your answers: you MUST follow instructions closely to gain all the marks you can.

Example Questions (1)

Example Questions (2)

In this part, you will hear an extract from a radio programme about the history of skiing.

M2: Until about 4,000 years ago, long before skis were invented, people would move about snow-covered lands in northern Europe hunting for food with a pair of snow shoes strapped to their feet. These looked rather like having a tennis racquet attached to each foot and were clumsy to use....

In Norway, the oldest cave painting ever discovered there shows a person on skis....Stone Age skis tended to be longer than modern ones, but one type was popular in Scandinavia even up to 150 years ago. Called Lapp skis, these were skis of unequal length - something that seems most unusual these days....

Norwegian history is full of many stories of skiing. In 1206 two of the King's faithful bodyguards skied across snow-covered mountains carrying the infant prince to safety. This was an epic journey...

Types of Questions

You will hear two students discussing arrangements for Teachers' Day.

F2: Hi, Peter.

M2: Hi, Maxine. Have you had any thoughts about the class's plans for Teacher's Day next month?

F2: Well, as you know there's a whole school event in the Main Hall after lunch and each class is organising something for their form teacher in the classroom either before or after the break, right?

M2: Yes, that's it.

F2: OK, so I've spoken to everyone and they've come up with quite a few ideas. Too many in fact, and we'll need to be a bit selective. Some students have been rather too ambitious if you ask me. I don't think they've thought about the time or cost involved at all.

1) Each student will take part in...

A) one event

B) two events

C) three events

Answer: B ('a whole school event' + 'each class... before or after the break' = 2)

2) Maxine feels that some students have made...

A) valuable suggestions

B) constructive suggestions

C) unrealistic suggestions

Answer: C ('too ambitious...haven't thought about the time or cost' = unrealistic)

For many questions, you will need to listen for synonyms (e.g. too ambitious = unrealistic) or a combination of information (as in Question 1).

  • multiple choice
  • short-answer
  • form, chart, table or diagram completion
  • notes or sentence completion

CORRECT AND INCORRECT ANSWERS ACCORDING TO ACTUAL EXAMINERS' MARK SCHEME

Listen and complete the sentences below. Write no more than THREE words for each answer.

1) Before skis people used ___________ to go hunting in winter.

Correct: snow shoes (MUST HAVE BOTH WORDS)

Incorrect: pairs of snow shoes (too many words)

snow lands/tennis racquets (wrong)

2) In Norway an ancient _____________ shows a person wearing skis.

Correct: cave painting (MUST HAVE BOTH WORDS)

Incorrect: cave (wrong)

painting (a 'painting' is done on canvas/wood/paper, so not the same as 'cave painting')

cave paintings (not the exact words, and plural so can't be 'AN ancient..paintingS'

caves painting (not the exact words, grammatically incorrect)

3) Early designs of skis which were not the same _________ were called Lapp skis.

Correct: length/lengths/in length

Incorrect: equal length (not the exact words, makes no sense as 'same' means 'equal')

in lengths (not exact words, grammatically incorrect)/height/legs (wrong)

4) In an old Norwegian story a _________ was saved thanks to a long ski trip.

Correct: prince

Incorrect: infant prince (would have to be 'aN infant prince')/baby prince (not in text)/king

For short answers and completion questions, you MUST:

-only use the EXACT words you have heard

-use the number of words (or fewer) specified in the question

-complete the sentence (etc.) so it makes grammatical sense

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