Listening Section 2

28-Day Planner: Week 2

is a monologue (only one person speaking)
is about an everyday, social topic (not academic)
is usually a person giving information or instructions/directions
often includes a MAP! (see below).

In the example below you will hear a guide giving advice to people visiting a farm.

First of all, can you guess what might come in the gaps?

Making predictions will help.

Also always check instructions – here you only write ONE WORD for each answer.

Fiddy Working Heritage Farm

Visitors should

take care not to harm any (11) ________________
not touch any (12) _______________
wear (13) _________________
not bring 14_______________ into the farm

Listen to my version here and test yourself before you look at the tapescript:

Tapescript and Answers

‘Welcome to the Fiddy Working Heritage Farm. This open-air museum gives you the experience of agriculture and rural life in the English countryside at the end of the nineteenth century. So you’ll see a typical farm of that period, and like me, all the staff are dressed in clothes of that time.

I must give you some advice and safety tips before we go any further. As it is a working farm, please don’t frighten or injure the animals (11). We have a lot here, and many of them are breeds that are now quite rare.

And do stay at a safe distance from the tools (12): some of them have sharp points which can be pretty dangerous so please don’t touch them. We don’t want any accidents do we?

The ground is very uneven and you might slip if you’re wearing sandals so I’m glad to see you’re all wearing shoes (13) – we always advise people to do that.

Now, children of all ages are very welcome here, and usually even very young children love the ducks and lambs, so do bring them along next time you come.

I don’t think any of you have brought dogs (14) with you, but in case you have, I’m afraid they’ll have to stay in the car park, unless they’re guide dogs. I’m sure you’ll understand that they could cause a lot of problems on a farm.’

(Adapted from Cambridge IELTS Practice Tests CUP, Test Book 11, Test 1)

Things to notice:

As always, the information is in the same order as the questions
There is a short introduction to help you get used to the voice and the topic
There is some ‘padding’ in between each answer, to give you time to get ready for the next gap. Try to recognise this kind of unimportant information and its purpose. It is designed to help you and give you some thinking and writing time so and don’t let it distract you from the main answer.
The speaker often uses synonyms e.g. ‘don’t frighten or injure the animals’ = ‘don’t harm the animals’
The key word often comes before the main idea, so you have to concentrate on whole sentences to get the full meaning e.g. you’re all wearing shoes – we always advise people to do that‘ (‘that‘ refers back to ‘wearing shoes‘); ‘…stay a safe distance from the tools….don’t touch them‘; ‘…brought dogs..they‘ll have to stay in the car park’.
notice that all the answers here are PLURAL NOUNS so you absolutely must put the ‘s’ at the end of the words.

Maps and Directions

Look at the map of the farm below:

Make sure you find where you are! ( find ‘You are here’)
Quickly check the main locations (Car Park, New Barn, Fish Pool etc)
Make sure you have found ALL the letters (e.g. here the letter ‘A’ is off the main picture)
Write on the map as you listen. Quickly write e.g.‘Scarecrow’ – don’t worry about spelling because you don’t need to write this word down on the answer paper.
Also, don’t worry if you don’t know what the words mean e.g. ‘maze’. Just listen for the word and write it where you find it!
Before the test, practise the language of directions (e.g. ‘Turn Left’ ‘Go straight on’ ‘It’s opposite/next to…’ etc.).

The places you need to find are listed below the map.

(15) Scarecrow __

(16) Maze __

(17) Cafe__

(18) Black Barn __

(19) Covered picnic area __

(20) Fiddy House ___

Now listen to my version of the listening. I will go slowly because it isn’t the real test. Pause and rewind if it helps.

Tapescript and Answers

‘Now let me give you some idea of the layout of the farm. The building where you bought your tickets is the New Barn, immediately to your right, and we’re now at the beginning of the main path to the farmland – and of course the car park is on your left. (15) The scarecrow you can see in the car park in the corner, beside the main path, is a traditional figure for keeping the birds away from crops, but our scarecrow is a permanent sculpture. It’s taller than a human being, so you can see it from quite a distance.

(16) If you look ahead of you, you’ll see a maze. It’s opposite the New Barn, beside the side path that branches off to the right just over there. The maze is made out of hedges which are too tall for young children to see over them, but it’s quite small so you can’t get lost in it!

Now, can you see the bridge crossing the fish pool further up the main path? (17) If you want to go to the cafe, go towards the bridge and turn right just before it. Walk along the side path and the cafe’s on the first bend you come to. The building was originally the school house, and it’s well over a hundred years old. As you may know, we run skills workshops here, where you can learn traditional crafts like woodwork and basket -making. You can see examples of the work, and talk to someone about the courses, in the Black Barn. (18) If you take the side path to the right here, just by the New Barn, you’ll come to the Black Barn just where the path first bends.

Now, I mustn’t forget to tell you about picnicking, as I can see some of you have brought your lunch with you. You can picnic in the field, though do clear up behind you, of course. (19) Or if you’d prefer a covered picnic area, there’s one near the farmyard: just after you cross the bridge, there’s a covered picnic spot on the right.

And the last thing to mention is Fiddy House itself. (20) From here you can cross the bridge then walk along the footpath through the field to the left of the farmyard. That goes to the house and it’ll give you a lovely view of it. It’s certainly worth a few photographs, but as it’s a private home, I’m afraid you can’t go inside.’