Listening Practice
Listen to
that video and then answer the following activities:
Listen to the speakers describing their favourite things and do the exercises to practise and improve your listening skills.
1. Preparation: matching
Do this exercise before you listen. Match the verb with the correct noun and write a – g next to the numbers 1 – 7.
1…….. take e. photos a. a designer
2…….. listen to g. music b. your scooter
3…….. watch d. films c. a business
4…….. stroke f. the cat d. films
(= move your hand gently over something)
5…….. park b. your scooter e. photos
6…….. make it as (= be successful as) a. a designer f. the cat
7…….. set up (= start) c. a business g. music
2. Check your understanding: matching
Match the speakers with their favourite things. Write a – e next to the numbers 1 – 5.
1…….. Speaker A a. a tablet
2…….. Speaker E b. a sewing machine
3…….. Speaker C c. a scooter
4…….. Speaker B d. a set of knives
5…….. Speaker D e. a cat
3. Check your understanding: gap fill
Do this exercise while you listen. Write the word to fill the gaps.
A. My favourite thing has to be my new tablet. It’s really light and quite _small, so I take it with me everywhere. I’m always writing to friends and it’s big enough to do college work on it too. It takes really good _photos, and I play games and listen to _the music on it as well, of course. I often download __films_ onto it, and watch them in _bed. My mum says I’m _digitized, because I’m always on it. I even read things on it at breakfast time. I’m not allowed to at _dinner time, though. I have to be _polite and talk to people then. “Welcome back to real life,” my mum says.
B. My favourite thing? Does my _cat count as a thing? She’s not really a thing, but anyway. She’s a really _beautiful little cat. I’ve had her since she was _full months old. You know how some cats are really _independent and hardly talk to you? I know cats don’t really talk, but you know what I mean. Well, she’s not like that at all. She’s really _affectionate and comes up to me as soon as I get home, purring away like mad. She makes a lot of __noise_ for a tiny thing. She loves being stroked and comes and curls up next to me when I’m on the _sofa. She’s great _accompany.
C. My new scooter! It’s quite small, but _fun, and just what I needed for getting around the _city_. I used to have quite a long walk to the _metro, then a longish walk at the other end to get to _my college_. But now I can just whiz there on my _scooter. And there’s no problem parking, there’s always _space for it. You have to be _careful with the cars and _lorries – they don’t always see you – and when it rains the surface of the road is _terrible, it gets really slippery. But in general it’s perfect for me, and I can fit a _friend on the back too – I’ve got an extra _hamlet for a friend. It’s great. Riding along makes me feel so free.
D. This might sound a bit old-fashioned, but my sewing _machine_ is my favourite thing. I’m studying _fashion_ and love making things, as well as designing them. I also love _clothes_ myself and often buy second-hand clothes – everyone loves the “vintage” _look_ at the moment – and then I adapt them to my _size_. It’s much easier using a machine to do that than doing it by _hand_. I do alterations for my mum and my sister too. If I don’t make it as a _designer_, I suppose I can always set up my own alterations and customizing _business_. Customizing clothes, by taking things off and adding things on, is actually very _crisive_, so I wouldn’t mind that.
E. My set of Japanese knives. That sounds a bit sinister, doesn’t it, but I’m not a _murder_ or anything. They’re chef’s knives and the best ones come from _Japen_. Cooking is my new hobby. I got into it when I started watching Masterchef on TV. Then I went to an evening _class_ for beginners, and I haven’t looked back since. I try and have a _dinner_ for between four and eight_friends_ every two or three _weeks_. That gives me something to work towards and I
always do new _dishes_ so they can try them out and give me feedback. It’s quite an_expensive_ hobby if you use good _ingredients_, but now my friends help towards the_cost_. They still get a good _meal_ for a very low price.
4- What’s your favourite thing?
My favourite thing has to be my new iphone. It is my birthday gift which my husband bought for me.
5- Why is it important to you?Because it is really light and small. It takes good pictures.
6- Vocabulary Box: Write any new words you have learnt in this lesson and use it in a sentence of your own.
