IELTS – B1 – L1 – U1

Welcome to your IELTS - B1 - L1 - U1

LISTENING

UNIT 1: Orientating yourself to the text

Who are the speakers?
Where are they?
Why are they speaking?

In order to understand what people are saying, it helps to know what their relationship is to each other and to you as the listener.

The language we choose to use will depend on our relationship to the other speakers, e.g. we use different language to talk to a family member as opposed to a teacher or a salesperson. Knowing the context of a conversation also helps us to understand the language because it helps us to anticipate what the speakers are going to talk about.

Pre-listening

Look at the following pictures. Try to work out who the people are, where they are and why they are speaking to each other.
Can you imagine what they are saying? Write some words in the speech balloons

How did you decide what the people were saying?
Compare what you have written with your partner.

EXTRACT 1

Listen to Unit 1, Extract 1. There are ten short conversations and one example. As you listen, complete the table to show who the speakers are and why they are speaking. The first one has been done as an example.

Conversation Number	Who are the speakers (Relationship)	Why are they speaking (Purpose)
Example	Customer / Sales Assistant	Customer is asking where men’s department is
(1)	..........(1a)..........	..........(1b)..........
(2)	..........(2a)..........	..........(2b)..........
(3)	..........(3a)..........	..........(3b)..........
(4)	..........(4a)..........	..........(4b)..........
(5)	..........(5a)..........	..........(5b)..........
(6)	..........(6a)..........	..........(6b)..........
(7)	..........(7a)..........	..........(7b)..........
(8)	..........(8a)..........	..........(8b)..........
(9)	..........(9a)..........	..........(9b)..........
(10)	..........(10a)..........	..........(10b)..........

(1)
(1a)

(1b)

(2)
(2a)

(2b)

(3)
(3a)

(3b)

(4)
(4a)

(4b)

(5)
(5a)

(5b)

(6)
(6a)

(6b)

(7)
(7a)

(7b)

(8)
(8a)

(8b)

(9)
(9a)

(9b)

(10)
(10a)

(10b)

Follow-up: Spoken and written language

Make a list of the types of language you hear spoken every day both in your own language and in English. Divide the list into two columns showing language which is spontaneous or unprepared and language which was probably written to be read out loud. Then discuss the questions below with a partner.

Unprepared spoken language

e.g. talking to family & friends
asking directions
........................
........................

Read out loud

Radio news
........................
........................

(11) What are the main differences between spoken language and language which was written to be read out loud? Is it harder to understand one than the other?

(12) Why is it more difficult to understand people when they speak on the telephone? How is this similar to listening to a recorded conversation?

IELTS – B1 – L1 – U1

LISTENING

UNIT 1: Orientating yourself to the text

Pre-listening

EXTRACT 1

Follow-up: Spoken and written language

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

EU Consultants

Contact Us - Sri Lanka

Contact Us - Dubai

Working Hours