CELPIP Listening, Part 5 of 6

Listening to a Discussion

Listen to three people discuss an everyday decision, then answer 8 questions about who thinks what.

Questions: 8
About: 9 min

Part 5Instructions

You will watch three colleagues at an adult education centre. At the start of a new term, the three English teachers meet in the staff lounge during a break to talk something over.

The clip plays once and you cannot pause or replay it.
When it ends, all 8 questions appear together. You have 4 minutes to answer from the drop-down menus.
When you finish, you get your score, the answers with explanations, and the transcript.

The audio starts as soon as you press start. Use headphones if you can.

You got 0 of 8 right

Each question below shows the answer and the line in the audio that gives it. You can now replay every clip and read the transcript.

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Recording

You will watch three colleagues at an adult education centre. At the start of a new term, the three English teachers meet in the staff lounge during a break to talk something over.

Transcript

Trevor: ...anyway, that's what the one husband told me at pickup. They're paying for full English immersion, and the whole break they're off in the corner in their own language. He wasn't happy.

Patricia: And that's been nagging at me too. I keep thinking we should say something. Nothing heavy, just, in this program it's English, breaks and all. What are they paying for otherwise?

Joanne: I don't know, though. They've been working in their second language for a solid hour, and then the break's only, what, ten minutes...

Trevor: Five. The breaks are five. Anyway, same point. I read somewhere that if you never let people switch off, it kinda backfires. They stop taking things in.

Patricia: Is that a real study, though, or just something people say? I could argue the opposite, they'd learn faster if they weren't slipping into their own language constantly.

Joanne: I don't have the study in front of me. But you feel it in the room. The ones who never come up for air, by the afternoon they're fried.

Trevor: And they're not doing anything wrong, that's the thing. They found some people from home, they're comfortable for five minutes. I'd do the exact same thing.

Patricia: I hear that. And I don't want to stand over them checking every word, I'm not the language police. But we can't just pretend nobody said anything.

Joanne: What if we just keep it to class time, then? Group work, activities, all English. The break we leave alone. That's basically how it runs now, isn't it?

Patricia: But then nothing changes, and I go back to that family with nothing. I'd want to try something. Pair the newer ones with students who've been here a while.

Trevor: Pairing them up isn't a bad idea. Although, you know who's good at that, the afternoon instructor. Anyway. A suggestion, fine. A rule, they'll dig in.

Joanne: Right, it can't feel like a punishment. More like, hey, try English at the break this week, see how it goes. Not a sign going up on the wall.

Patricia: Okay. Maybe. What if I just try it with my morning group? Not a rule, I'll ask them to give English a go at the break. Two weeks, then we see.

Trevor: One group, two weeks, I can live with that. As long as we're not rolling the whole thing out to everybody over one or two families being annoyed.

Joanne: Yeah, let's see how it goes with your class first. We don't have to fix the whole centre today. If it works, we talk about the rest later.

Patricia: Fine. Two weeks. I still think we'll end up doing something bigger, but okay, we'll start small.

Questions 1 to 8

1. What is the main topic of the discussion?

students' first-language use on breaks
ways to make lessons more engaging
the length of the students' breaks
grouping students by language level

2. What does Patricia say about the program?

The English rule should include break time.
Breaks should be longer than they are now.
Students may use any language in class.
The program should drop its immersion focus.

3. What does Trevor imply about the students?

They should be corrected during breaks.
They are falling behind in class.
They dislike the immersion program.
Their behaviour is quite understandable.

4. What does Joanne suggest they do?

keep English limited to class time
ban first languages during breaks
extend English into the breaks
pair newer students with veterans

5. Why is Trevor against making it a rule?

Students would resist a forced rule.
Rules take too long to enforce.
The centre forbids new rules.
Parents prefer stricter policies.

6. What does Patricia imply about Trevor's evidence?

It matches her own experience.
It proves that breaks help learning.
It is based on recent data.
It may not come from real research.

7. What will the teachers do after two weeks?

roll it out to every class
review how the trial went
drop the idea for good
ask the families to help

8. Which statement is most likely true?

The teachers fully agreed on a firm policy.
The teachers decided to do nothing at all.
The teachers reached a limited compromise.
The teachers ended their meeting in conflict.

How CELPIP Listening Part 5 works

Three people talk through a decision for about 2 minutes, then 8 questions appear together with drop-down menus. On the official test this part is a video. Here you get the audio, and a panel shows who is speaking. The questions name the speakers, so you need to know who wants what, who objects and who changes their mind.

Learn the three names during the introduction and give each person a column in your notes.
Track positions, not details: who is for, who is against, and what each one gives up by the end.
The last question is often about the outcome. Listen for what the group agrees to do next.