Hello, this is Fiona from IELTS with Fiona.
And in today's lesson we're going to do a listening practice and we're going to approach it from a slightly different angle.
Normally when I do listening test practice, I go through the questions and we look at what could be the tricks.
You know multiple choice things like that and the spellings and the gap fills.
But today I'm going to focus on looking at the skills and the things you need to know in order to answer each question.
So I'm going to compare it to driving a car.
That's the nearest analogy that I can find.
So when I'm teaching my son to drive, he kind of says well, how do you know when to change gear?
How do you know uh, you know how much force you should give to the pedal how, how do you know when to brake, all this kind of thing.
And if you drive, then you know that most of these things are just automated.
They've become automatic over the years because that allows you to drive safely and carefully, because you've automated the other things.
So can you imagine if every time you changed gear, you had to look at the gear and remind yourself what comes after one?
Oh, it must be two oh, and then three.
Or you know, look around for the indicator button, or stop the car to switch the headlights on, or even stop the car to read the road signs, things like that.
All of the things that you do almost subconsciously allow you to drive the car and to focus all your attention on maybe, looking out for dangers, anticipating somebody might come out of that road too fast and therefore I have to slow down just in case things like that.
But you wouldn't be able to drive if you were constantly thinking about how to drive.
So it's the same thing with listening and reading, I think.
There are certain things you just with time have to automate.
So that question that comes up a lot about how can I get faster at reading, is Well again, once you've automated the things, once you recognize words immediately, without having to think about what they are,
And once you've got to know, you know text structures and linking words and grammar, and even the most basic things like spelling.
And you know, you don't think about recognizing letters in words anymore, because you recognize them.
You don't have to think about it.
And that frees you up to focus on understanding the questions.
So there's a special word for this in TEFL teaching.
And there's a bottom up approach and a top down approach to learning skills like reading and listening.
The bottom up looks at the really small things.
If you think about listening, you're thinking about, you know, what are the individual sounds?
What's the word stress?
What happens when words go together?
Weak forms, sentence stress, things like that.
You're looking at the little things.
That's the bottom up approach.
Whereas the top-down approach is more your understanding of what this listening is about, your vocabulary and again, what you would expect to find from the listening.
Those are all macro skills, whereas the small skills are micro skills.
And I think the micro skills are really neglected because well, they're quite difficult to teach, aren't they?
Or students often don't see the relevance of.
You know, I'm doing a course, I've got two courses on pronunciation and they look at pronunciation in a really, really detailed way.
So they look at each sound and what happens when this sound joins to another sound.
And I know a lot of students think, oh, God, what a waste of time.
Can't we just do some listening practice?
But the point is, it's like driving.
If you don't master those basics, you won't get out of first gear.
And they may seem like little things, but research has shown that things like pronunciation and an understanding of phonemics are can actually improve your reading skills and vice versa, which is always why I teach IELTS holistically.
I don't like focusing on just one skill.
And I'm going to show you today why you need for this listening test.
You're going to need reading skills, speaking skills, pronunciation skills, awareness and also familiarity with what's happening in this listening test.
So let's go.
I've talked for six minutes already.
I haven't even started.
So I'm going to start now.
And, by the way, if you're in the Members Academy, I'm going to post this with the video so you can hear the audio from the recording and I'll talk you through it.
But if you're not in the Members Academy then I'm sure if you Google this you can find it online somewhere.
So it's called Matthews Island Holidays and it's about a holiday company and a woman called Erica Matthews is the owner and she's going to talk you through what the company offers.
There are two parts.
So the first part is multiple choice, four questions.
And the second part is a table.
It's actually a timetable for a holiday on the Isle of Man.
Now, of course, you can read Isle of Man in the listening.
But it comes up in my Connected Speech for Listening course.
Why?
Because if you say Isle of Man fast, like I just did, Isle of Man, Isle of Man it sounds like I love man.
There's Isle of White as well in the UK.
It sounds like I love white.
So having your ear ready to hear these things will again eliminate that problem in the listening test, because you'll recognise it straight away.
And another thing, again, it's in my Connected Speech course, is accent.
And today's accent is British English.
But not only that, it's Northern British English.
And I talk about this in the course.
So It's not going to be more difficult to understand, but there are specific sounds which are different.
So, instead of saying it was set up by my parents, which is what you would expect to hear she says set up.
She says instead of company, she says company, a company set up by my parents.
And parents there is a really commonly mispronounced word.
It's on my hundred most mispronounced words list.
People tend to say parents.
If you say parent. then you won't hear what she says, my parents, that air sound.
So again, recognising the air sound will help you hear the word parents, because you've already practised it in the speaking course.
So she says, good morning.
My name's Erica Matthews.
I'm the owner of Matthews Island Holidays.
A company set up by my parents.
Thank you for coming to this presentation in which I hope to interest you in what we have to offer.
We're a small family-run company, she says again, family-run company.
And the first question is coming up.
The first question is according to the speaker, the company A has been in business for longer than most of its competitors.
So your brain is already thinking well, how long has this business been um existing?
So there's comparisons here.
Your brain is thinking about well, i'm looking for a comparison.
In B it says arranges holidays to more destination than its competitors.
Again, more places.
A comparison.
You need to know comparisons.
Grammar.
C, has more customers than its competitors.
Common mistake.
People say costumers.
Spelling mistake.
Now you see customers.
Will you hear it correctly?
So there's spelling in here, there's grammar, there's the comparisons and there's the accent.
So we're looking for what she says about the company.
She says, we believe in the importance of the personal touch or touch.
So we don't aim to compete with other companies on the number of customers.
Now, this is a general knowledge thing.
It's something you might be familiar with.
Different companies compete on different basis.
Some people just get hundreds of customers and that's that makes them successful.
Other people prefer to provide maybe a higher quality and more personalized service, and You need an awareness of that.
She says we don't compete on the number of customers.
What we do, and here's a signal word.
So you've got to be aware of those signals.
What we do is build on our many years experience more than almost any other rail holiday company.
So there was your answer.
The year's experience is more than almost any other company company competitor.
So that gives um.
That gives you the answer.
A has been in business for longer.
She says we want to ensure we provide perfect holidays in a small number of destinations.
So it's not c and it's not b which arranges holidays to more destinations.
She says no, Just a small number of destinations which we've got to know extremely well.
OK, next question, 12.
Where can customers meet the tour manager before travelling to the Isle of Man?
And there are three place names here, Liverpool, Haysham and Luton.
Now, nobody's expecting you to know every place name. in the UK.
But again, if you have heard of some of these places Liverpool's famous for the Beatles then that eliminates it, takes away that problem of hearing unfamiliar words.
So, you can focus on understanding.
And listen to this.
She says, remember, where can they meet the tour manager before travelling?
She says, I'll start with our six day Isle of Man holiday.
This is a fascinating island in the Irish Sea, with Wales to the south, England to the east, Scotland to the north and Northern Ireland to the west.
Again, if you know that about the UK, your background knowledge, then you don't have to focus on this.
You can just think, well, I know that.
Yeah.
Our holiday starts in Haysham.
Where your tour manager will meet you.
Now, that's the answer.
What you notice, how she says it, she says your tour manager will meet you.
Meet you.
Now, if you've done a little bit of my course, you'll know that when the T hits the U sound, it often becomes CH.
CH. like YouTube.
I mean, some people say YouTube, but a lot of people say YouTube.
And this is a specific example of how you might hear something else if you don't know about that.
So she says, starts in Haitian, where your tour manager will meet you.
And that's the answer.
Of course, they mentioned the other ones.
They say, Some people prefer to fly it from Luton.
Another option is to go by train to Liverpool and take a ferry from there.
But those are just other options.
Now, 13.
Coming up is some mathematics.
How many lunches are included in the price of the holiday?
Three, four or five?
Again, you won't have to worry about the maths if you already know or understand the rest.
She says you have five nights in the hotel and the price covers five breakfasts and dinners and lunch on the three days when there are organised trips.
So that's your answer.
Three days, three lunches.
Day four is free.
Most people have lunch in a cafe or restaurant in Douglas.
So pretty easy one there, as long as your maths is OK.
Fourteen.
Last one.
Customers have to pay extra for something.
So you're looking for what's an extra charge.
A. Guaranteeing a larger room.
B, booking at short notice.
C, transferring to another date.
So your background knowledge is coming in now.
You might be thinking, well, surely a larger room would be extra.
Maybe short notice would be extra.
Transferring, there's usually a fee, isn't there?
So all of those are possible.
Let's see what she says.
She says the price of the holiday includes the ferry to the Isle of Man, all travel on the island, the hotel and the meals I've mentioned.
Incidentally, we try to make our holidays as simple and fair as possible.
So, unlike with many companies, the price is the same whether you book six months in advance or at the last minute.
So you can cross off the short notice one.
And there's no supplement for single rooms in hotels.
She doesn't mention a larger room.
She just says there's no supplement, maybe a vocabulary issue here.
You'd have to know there's no extra charge.
So if you make a booking then need to change the start date, for example because of illness, you're welcome to change to an alternative date or a different tour for a small administrative fee.
So transferring to another date synonym transfer change the date, you do have to pay extra.
There's a small administrative fee.
Now you'd have to know the vocabulary there.
Fee is extra, an extra charge.
So that would give you the answer.
All right.
Let's move on to the gap fill now.
And this is a table and you're only allowed one word and or a number.
As always, use your macro skills, have a quick skim.
This is reading skills as well, isn't it?
Familiarise yourself with the table.
There are six days and two columns.
One column is the activity, what happens on each day.
And the second column is the notes and it's in note form.
So that's also important to kind of get used to how they use note forms.
So day one is introduction by manager.
And 15 says hotel dining room has view of the something.
So what is the view from the hotel dining room?
Let's go.
She says, OK, so what does the holiday consist of?
By the way, nice task one vocabulary.
Well, on day one, you'll arrive in time for a short introduction by your tour manager, followed by dinner in the hotel.
The dining room looks out at the river, close to where it flows into the harbour.
And there's usually plenty of activity going on.
So what do you need to know here?
She says the dining room looks out at the river.
The dining room has a view of the, and the answer is obviously the river.
So what did you need to know?
Maybe looks out at phrasal verbs, possibly.
The next one, day two.
The gap fill is a date, an event.
It's about a place called Tinwald, which may have been founded in which date?
Not 979.
So I think there you would need to know a little bit about the grammar of may have been, because they're not sure.
And dates are numbers.
So, she says...
On day two, you'll take the coach to the small town of Peel.
On the way, calling at the Tynwald exhibition.
The Isle of Man isn't part of the United Kingdom and it has its own parliament called Tynwald.
It's claimed.
Now, that kind of language, it's claimed, we're not sure.
It's claimed that this is the world's oldest parliament that's still functioning, and it dates back to 979.
Now my brain.
When I listened to this, I was waiting for the linking word however, and it's exactly what comes next.
However, the earliest surviving reference to it is from 1422.
So, perhaps it isn't quite as old as it claims.
So, from 1422, that is the answer.
1422.
Next, day three is a trip to Snifle.
Snifle?
Snifle?
I don't know.
I can't remember.
Travel along promenade in a tram.
Vocabulary you might need to just get ready for here.
A promenade in a tram.
Train to Laxey, another place name.
And then a train to the something of Snifle.
Excuse me if you live in this area, I'm pronouncing these really badly.
Day three.
We have a trip to the mountain Snifle.
This begins with a leisurely ride along the promenade in Douglas in a horse-drawn tram.
Then you board an electric train which takes you to the fishing village of Laxy.
From there, it's an eight kilometre ride in the Snaffle Mountain Railway to the top.
That's the answer, the top.
And I was just thinking, well, what did you need?
You needed kind of memory skills because it's almost like the other way around in the gap fill.
The gap fill says train to the of Snifle.
But in the listening, it says a ride in the Snifle Mountain Railway to the top.
So you could easily miss that.
Yeah.
OK.
Next, 18.
Day four is a free day and the company provides a something for local transport and heritage sites.
Now, I did miss this.
I think I was distracted.
So it's another thing, you know, something you've got to focus, keep your focus on.
What does the company provide?
It says, day four is free for you to explore using the pass which we'll give you.
So, they say pass really early on before they mention what the pass is for.
So, the answer is pass.
Now, she says pass like I do, pass.
Other British English people would say pass.
It's the bus bath sound, you might recognize pass.
And then when you hear, hear her say pass, you miss it.
It's easily done, but that is the answer there provides a pass.
Day five it says take the something railway train from douglas to port erin the something railway.
So she says The last full day, day five is, for some people, the highlight of the holiday, with a ride on the steam railway.
That's the answer, the steam railway.
Now, I think what you need to know here is spelling because the E-A words and the E sound connect.
They're one of my list of most common gap fill words because of the spelling problem.
So if you think about a word like weather with the E-A and then the E-E-E like feet.
Here we've got the E sound with the E-A spelling.
So that is the answer.
And finally, the last gap. says, you've got free time, then coach to Castletown.
Now, here, grammar.
Castletown, and it says former something has old castle.
You'll need to know the word former.
I talk about it a lot in the reading course.
The former and the latter comes up here in the listening in a different meaning, the former meaning the one before.
So what grammar do you need to know for that?
Well, she says, a coach will take you to the headland that overlooks the calf of man, a small island just off the coast.
From there, you continue to Castletown, which used to be the capital of the Isle of Man, and its medieval castle, which used to be used to be.
Now, That used to.
Listen to how I say it.
It's a pronunciation issue.
First of all, used to.
Drop the D because the D and T come together.
Weak sound for the T. Used to.
Used to be.
You need to recognise used to be very quickly to realise that it's the synonym for former noun in this example.
And that then will give you the answer, the capital.
Spelling, C-A-P-I-T-A-L.
I think that's a tricky spelling because there is a capital, O-L, different meaning.
And also think about like principal, A-L or L-E, those kind of confusions.
So, anyway, you could probably guess capital, the spelling, or you probably know it.
Anyway okay, so that was a full part two listening test looking in specific detail at what skills you require to improve your listening.
So, It's not just a question of listening more, doing more practice.
Those are all important, yes, but you've got to get to the nitty gritty of what is listening.
And listening includes reading spelling pronunciation, linking words grammar, vocabulary.
All of those come together and they're very carefully tested.
So if you have any questions about that, please don't hesitate to drop me a line on the podcast, on the blog, on my social media.
The quickest way to find me is to go to my website ieltsetccom, or just Google IELTS with Fiona, and hopefully I will be there somewhere.
So thanks for listening.
Let me know if you've got any questions.
Bye for now.
Bye bye.
