IELTS listening, version 16208.

You will hear a number of different recordings and you will have to answer questions on
what
you hear.
There will be time for you to read the instructions and questions and you will have a chance
to check your work.
All the recordings will be played once only.
The test is in four sections.
Write all your answers in the listening question booklet.
At the end of the test, you will be given ten minutes to transfer your answers to an
answer sheet.
Now turn to section one on page two of your question booklet.
In one, you will hear a man phoning to ask about a festival in a town called Beechan.
First you have some time to look at questions one to six on page two.
You will see that there is an example that has been done for you.
On this occasion only, the conversation relating to this will be played first.
Beechan Festival Office.
Oh hello, I want to check some details about the festival.
I know tickets are running out fast and I haven't got access to the internet at present.
My computer is down.
Okay, well the first activity is on June the 19th at 7pm and it's a concert with local
musicians performing.
Lovely.
The activity on June the 19th is a concert.
So concert has been written in the space.
Now we shall begin.
You should answer the questions as you listen because you will not hear the recording a
second time.
Listen carefully and answer questions one to six.
Beechan Festival Office.
Oh hello, I want to check some details about the festival.
I know tickets are running out fast and I haven't got access to the internet at present.
My computer is down.
Okay, well the first activity is on June the 19th at 7pm and it's a concert with local
musicians performing.
Lovely.
Is it in the theatre like last year?
Yes, that's right.
And for the next activity on the 20th the times changed.
Is that the tour?
Yes, now it does say on the tickets that it's a 340 start but that's an error.
It wasn't time to update them unfortunately so it should say 430 instead.
The correct time is on the website though.
Oh right, because one of my friends wants to go on that to see Beechan with an expert
and find out about the town and its history.
Does she need to get a ticket in advance?
No, just turn up at the station where the guide will be waiting.
They'll start from there and I think the plan is to stop for a break in the park and
there's no charge for the tour and the tour will finish with a visit to the 16th century
mill where they used to make flour.
It's recently been restored.
Fine.
And then on the 21st there's an all day event for children.
Oh, that could be good for my visitors.
They're bringing theirs you see.
Right, well the plan was to have a painting competition for the kids but it's now going
to be cooking instead and there'll be prizes for all the different age groups.
Oh great.
And it's in Beechan Community Centre.
Oh yes, I know where that is.
They don't need to bring any ingredients but they'll need to have a plate to put whatever
they've made on so they can display it and then take it home.
Sounds good.
And are they going ahead with the fireworks in the evening or is that cancelled?
There was an article in the paper after last year's display which suggested it might not
be happening again.
That's right, no, that's still on.
It's getting more popular each year and having it in the town square was starting to be a
bit difficult because of the numbers which is why it's next to the river this time.
It'll be easy for large numbers of people to get to.
Yes, of course.
I'm sure there's lots to look forward to.
Before you hear the rest of the conversation you have some time to look at questions 7-10
on page 2.
Now listen and answer questions 7-10.
Okay, now I just want to check how it's going to impact on me as a local resident.
I mean some people last year thought it was too noisy at night.
Yes, I know.
And that's why this year, evening events won't go on beyond 11-15.
I know previously some activities lasted until 11-45 and the new time applies now to all
the events every evening.
Okay.
And another change, perhaps you know about this already, is that because of high visitor
numbers, parking in the town centre isn't going to be allowed.
It'll be outside town.
Oh yes, to keep the streets clear I suppose for all the visitors.
I did know actually and it's not really going to be a problem for me.
Right.
I mean I can just walk into town from my home.
Okay.
Well anyway, if you want to check any more details about the festival, once you're back
online you can look at www.events.com and you'll be able to comment on what activities
you enjoyed and what would really help the organisers would be if people could use the
website to give feedback about what they enjoyed and that kind of thing.
This will help them plan for next year.
That's probably a good idea.
And with pricing I know local residents.
What is the end of section 1?
You now have half a minute to check your answers.
Now turn to section 2 on page 3.
Section 2
You will hear a tour guide talking to some tourists who are going on a walking holiday in
Spain.
First you have some time to look at questions 11-14 on page 3.
Now listen carefully and answer questions 11-14.
Well good evening everyone. My name is Gary Payne and I'll be the leader for your Walking
Holiday in Spain.
And the purpose of this evening's meeting is for us all to get to know each other in advance
and for you to ask any questions you may have about the holiday.
So I'll begin by telling you a little bit about what to expect.
Now the ferry crossing from England to Santander in Spain takes about 24 hours.
We'll be sailing on the Prince Regent, which was first launched in the 1980s, as well as the
crew of 160.
It can accommodate about 2,000 people and 600 cars.
And it sails at an average speed of 37 kilometres an hour.
There'll be an on-board map on one of the decks which charts the ship's progress during the
voyage.
Although our mini bus will be on one of the vehicle decks in the boat, access to these decks
is prohibited during the crossing, so when you leave our bus you'll have to take everything
that you're likely to need with you, like toiletries or books and magazines.
In fact it's probably a good idea to put these things in a separate bag beforehand.
You shouldn't need snacks on board as meals are provided and they're quite substantial.
And if you don't feel well or get a headache, you can get tablets from me. I always carry an
adequate supply.
Now once we're in Spain, we'll be based at a hostel in a small village called La Vega de
Libana, about 120 kilometres from Santander.
It's a very picturesque area that's retained a lot of its traditional industry and culture.
The hostel accommodation's fairly simple. There are bunk beds and each room holds four to
eight people.
But the bathrooms and showers are of a high standard.
The hostel residents have the use of tennis courts nearby, if you feel like a game.
We'll be given breakfast and an evening meal at the hostel.
In general the hostel is relaxed, but there are a few rules which the owners enforce strictly.
Smoking is not allowed anywhere inside the building and food and drink is banned in the
dormitories.
Any chairs or tables which you take outside into the gardens must be returned every evening
to their original place.
And finally the doors are locked after midnight out of consideration for other guests who are
trying to sleep.
Before you hear the rest of the talk, you have some time to look at questions 15-20 on page
4.
Now listen and answer questions 15-20.
Now that's enough about travel and accommodation. But before I move on, I should say
something briefly about equipment.
There's a list in the guidebook you've been sent, but I'll just elaborate on one or two items.
First, boots. Make sure that the ones you bring have thick soles. That's the most important
thing.
Don't bring trainers for walking in, apart from anything else they're dangerous because they
slip.
It's important to bring spare socks.
Then about waterproofs, I'd strongly advise you not to come with anything heavy, you know,
with a thick lining.
The ideal things are those lightweight ones because they fold up small and although they do
keep the wind out, they don't make you too hot.
Right?
Next, sun cream. This is absolutely essential. And regarding the strength, make sure you get
what's known as total block.
Even Factor 25 isn't good enough for those latitudes in July.
Then, let's see, bring a folder to keep your map and other papers in, you know, one of those
plastic ones.
It's not very likely to rain, but if it does, you'll find it soaks everything.
So, that's the practicalities over.
Now let me tell you a little bit about the area in Spain where we'll be walking.
The Picos de Europa.
It's a very popular area for tourists because of its spectacular peaks.
Although there are only 25 kilometres from the sea, the highest peaks are more than 2,600
metres high and have year-round snow caps.
On the highest peaks, you've got alpine plants that are only free of their snow cover for a few
months a year.
Then you've got meadows that are full of wildflowers at certain times of the year.
Then the northern slopes are covered by woodlands, giving homes to rare species such as
wolves and bears.
And because of the variety of plant life, which survives in that part of Europe due to the
traditional way of life there...
That is the end of section two.
You now have half a minute to check your answers.
Now turn to section three on page five.
Section 3. You will hear two students called Sally and Steve discussing Sally's project on
peer assessment,
a system where students mark each other's work.
First you have some time to look at questions 21-24 on page 5.
Now listen carefully and answer questions 21-24.
I can't believe you're still in the library Sally. You've been here all day.
Are you still working on your peer assessment project?
Hi Steve. Yes, I'm still here and I'm nowhere near finished.
I'm still processing the reading I've done on peer assessment. I'm interested to see if
students marking each other's work is beneficial.
I know a lot of the other students are pretty skeptical about its value as a way of assessing
their performance.
They think the tutors are in favour of it because they don't have to spend so long marking.
But I disagree. I think we can learn a great deal from it.
Yes, I can see one advantage being that it saves time spent going over things in class.
Well, initially it doesn't seem to work that way and it can be quite a time consuming business
because sometimes things have to be marked again if the tutor thinks the students'
assessments aren't reliable.
The real game is the fact that the students learn to stand back and assess their own
assignments objectively because they're much more familiar with the marking system.
Yes, I can see that. It gives them an opportunity to reflect on their own performance.
And how do they feel about having another student mark their work? Is that good for
rapport?
In some cases, yes. In some cases, no. I think more research is needed to answer that
question.
What happens if a tutor notices that the marks for a particular assignment seem wrong?
Should the students mark them again?
That might not make any difference. So in that case, the tutor would have to remark all those
assignments and then go through the marking criteria really carefully with the students on
the next assignment with some sample answers.
Right.
I've been reading about a research project on peer assessment. The researchers invited a
group of students from two different universities to attend a one-day conference.
They also invited some university lecturers to attend. Each student gave a short presentation
on a project of their choice.
Each of these presentations was assessed individually by all the participants, both students
and lecturers.
To support their marking, they used a set of assessment guidelines that had been prepared
the day before by a random selection of students.
Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30
on page 6.
Now listen and answer questions 25 to 30.
So were the student markers reliable?
Well, comparisons were made between certain categories of student markers and the group
as a whole, including the lecturers.
The findings showed that there were some variations in the way different groups marked.
Gender did come into play, for example.
I expect the male students were more generous when marking female presenters were
they?
Quite the reverse, actually. They were harder on the female presenters than on the males.
Which wasn't what I'd expected either.
Did female students show any bias towards male presenters?
Interestingly not. So does that suggest women are fairer and more reliable markers than
men?
Well, I wouldn't go that far. It's only a small sample. But significantly, the results showed that
when women marked other women, this didn't affect the grades they gave.
Hmm. What about age? Were you able to come to any conclusions about that?
Yes, because we had some mature students presenting and we found the marks awarded to
them by their younger peers were rather more generous.
I wonder why that is. Now, you said there were groups of students from two universities. Did
they tend to favour students making presentations from their own universities?
It didn't seem to influence marking one way or the other, which is quite encouraging. We've
been interested to see if students' personal relationships affected their objectivity.
One striking variation though was in the students who'd been asked to help devise the
criteria for the marking scheme.
They were actually the toughest markers of all, marking consistently below the tutors.
Really? Well, it sounds as if it's generated lots of useful data. I expect you'll be here for a
day.
That is the end of section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
Now turn to section 4 on page 7.
Section 4
You will hear part of a linguistics lecture about a language called Bishlama that is spoken in
the Pacific Islands.
First, you have some time to look at questions 31-40 on page 7.
Now, listen carefully and answer questions 32-40.
Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.
Good morning and welcome back to the series of linguistics lectures.
Today I will be talking about the language Bishlama, which is a form of Pigeon English.
Linguists use the term Pigeon to describe new languages that are created by combining two
or more existing languages, often in a simplified form.
The study of Pigeon languages is important because it provides us with information about
language change and modification.
The Pigeon English known as Bishlama is used in the South Pacific Nation of Vanuatu, a
group of islands where 81 first languages are still regularly used by the local people.
There are a further 17 local languages that are in danger of dying out and 8 that are being
identified as extinct.
This gives a total of 106 first languages in all, a very high number for a small country with a
population of just 200,000 people.
Then thinking about foreign languages, English is the most important and has official status,
largely because it is the medium for all education purposes.
However, it is Bishlama that is the most widely spoken language in the country, used
regularly by more than 90% of the population.
We should note here that in earlier times some people had negative feelings towards the
language.
In fact, for many years it was commonly referred to as a broken language and its use was
discouraged.
But attitudes have changed dramatically and today the people of Vanuatu are very proud of
this unique language.
It is only when we understand the historical context that we can comprehend just why
Bishlama developed in Vanuatu.
The first form of pigeon English in this region can be traced to around 1800 when foreign
traders arrived and local people were recruited to work as sailors.
On board multilingual ships, there was an obvious need for a common tongue and pigeon
English was born.
This early form of Bishlama continued to spread as trade in the Pacific developed in
Sandalwood and other local commodities.
Then from about 1860 a lot of people from Vanuatu traveled to Australia to work on the new
plantations as labourers.
Again, because of the multilingual nature of these workplaces, it was very important to have
a common language.
Finally, in modern times, there have been other pressures that have maintained the need for
a common language.
Like many other parts of the world from about the 1950s, Vanuatu experienced a significant
migration of its people from small villages,
into the city, and it has been here that Bishlama has really established itself as the country's
first language.
So then, how can we describe the language itself?
In general terms, pigeon languages can be defined as extremely simple versions of the
original language.
However, this is not a satisfactory definition in this case, and linguists prefer to describe
Bishlama as a developed pigeon,
because it has more rules and ideas than most simple pigeon languages found in other parts
of the world.
Let's think first about the vocabulary.
Because Britain was the colonial power, the majority of Bishlama's vocabulary is derived
from English.
However, some care needs to be taken here.
For example, the word from in Bishlama can also mean because of, so we need to be aware
that words can have a wider range of meanings in Bishlama.
Indeed, there are numerous other potentially misleading terms, and English is not the only
contributor to the vocabulary.
Again, because of the region's history, there are some words, around 5 to 10%, that are
derived from French.
Then, a relatively small number of words have been taken from local, Pacific languages.
Usually this is the case where there is no English equivalent for naturally occurring
phenomena, or to describe some aspect of the culture that is unique to the country.
Finally, a word about grammar. Although the vocabulary is based largely on English, it's
important to note that the grammatical structure of Bishlama is derived from patterns
common in the local languages of Vanuatu.
So, for example, there are two distinct pronouns meaning, we.
One means, I and you, and another means, I and some others, but not you.
Sounds confusing in English, but in the local languages, such distinctions are common.
A different example concerns the word, long. It is almost the only preposition in Bishlama,
and may be used in place of a whole range of English words such as, at, to, with, on, in, and
so on.
Well, that is the end of the formal part of the lecture. If you have any questions now, I'll be
most happy to answer.
That is the end of section 4. You now have half a minute to check your answers.
That is the end of the listening test. You now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to
the listening answer sheet.
Thank you.