Practice Listening English Exercises for A1 – Family

A

Greg mentions all of the people except granddaughter and grandson.

B

Nathan: grandfather; Sally: grandmother; Alice: aunt;

Ravi: uncle; Michael: uncle; Karl: cousin; Kavita: cousin;

Ella: sister; Rick: brother

Ravi and Sanjit’s parents were born in India.

Audioscript

FRIEND   What’s this, Greg?

GREG   Oh, it’s my family tree. You can download a special program to make it.

F   That’s really good. So are these your grandparents?

G   That’s right. Sally, she’s my grandmother and that’s my grandfather, Nathan. They’re my mother’s parents. They’ve got two children – a son and a daughter. Michael’s their son, he’s my uncle, and they’ve got a daughter, Mary – that’s my mother.

F   And so, Sanjit’s your father?

G   That’s right, yeah. They’ve got three children – there’s me, there’s my brother Rick and my sister Ella – that’s her there.

F   Sanjit’s an Indian name, right?

G   Yeah, it is, yeah. His parents, Arjun and Priya, are from India, but he was born here in London. And his brother Ravi was born here too – so Ravi’s my other uncle.

F   Right. So, he’s married too.

G   Yes, you can see here – he’s married to my aunt Alice. And they’ve got two children, Karl and Kavita. They’re my cousins.

F   So your grandparents in India have got five grandchildren?

G   Yes, they’re very happy about it!

C

✓ his grandmother, ✓ his grandfather

(Greg also mentions his grandparents in India, but he doesn’t talk about them in detail.)

D

1937   2 (grandfather was born)

1939   6 (grandmother was born)

1958   5 (went to university)

1962   1 (got married)

1963   4 (photographer took the picture)

2004   3 (grandmother finished work)

Audioscript

FRIEND   So, your grandparents are all still alive?

GREG   Yes, they are. But we don’t see my grandparents in India very much.

F   Your grandmother, Sally – she looks nice and friendly.

G   She’s lovely, yes, but she’s very old now of course. Look – here’s a photo of her with my grandfather. I think this is from about 1963, yeah, you can see that she was a very beautiful woman.

F   Oh, yes. She really was. So, when was she born?

G   Um, she was born in 1939, I think, I’m not sure. But I know her birthday’s the 16th of July. And my grandfather was born two years before her.

F   Mmm … interesting.

G   Yes, my grandmother’s a really interesting woman. She was a doctor at the University Hospital in London, for about 40 years, I think, until she was 65. So, until 2004.

F   Wow, that’s a long time. What about your grandfather? Was he a doctor too?

G   Yes, he was. And they were at the same school together.

F   Really? Were they in the same class?

G   No, they weren’t. They weren’t even friends at school. But then when they were university students, they met again and of course then things were quite different … .

F   Ah, right.

G   Yes, in fact they were married in 1962. They were still students.

F   Oh, so in this photo she was … 24 and just married?

G   Yes, that’s right.

F   Ah, that’s so romantic.

A

Hannah: sports

Charlie: baking

B

Audioscript

HANNAH   My childhood hobby was sports. I loved it. I played anything and everything: basketball, tennis, swimming, football. But I think my favourite was tennis – I played every summer. Every day of the week I went to some kind of sports activity or game. My parents, poor things, spent all the time driving me to different activities and games and things like that. I never got a train or bus. I think it was really difficult for them! I don’t play sports very much now – I don’t have the time.

CHARLIE   My hobby when I was a child was a bit unusual I think. I really loved sweet things – cakes, biscuits – food like that. So, my hobby was baking. Ater school and at the weekend I made cakes and biscuits and my friends came to my place and ate them. My parents bought all the things I needed. They told me it cost a lot, but they were always happy to eat the things I made. I still bake biscuits and cakes now. My wife loves it because she never needs to bake anything.

A

Annie and Dan leave messages.

B

1   F (She tells Dan to call her on her work number or her mobile.)

2   T

Audioscript

MESSAGE 1

DAN   Hello, this is Dan Morton. I can’t answer your call at the moment. Please leave a message after the tone.

ANNIE   Hi, Dan – it’s Annie. Can you call me back? You can call me on my work number or my mobile. Thanks.

MESSAGE 2

A   Hi! It’s Annie. I’m not here right now. You know what to do after the tone. Have a nice day!

D   Hi, Annie. I got your message. I’m here at my desk now. Could you call me back? Bye.

A

2   c (Leo answers the phone.)

3   a (Annie chats to Leo.)

4   d (Dan brings some coffee.)

5   e (Dan talks to Annie.)

B

1   a   how they are

2   Suggested answers: shy, nervous, embarrassed

Audioscript

DAN   Would you like a coffee?

LEO   Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks, Dan. … Hello. Dan’s phone.

ANNIE   Oh. Hello. Is Dan there?

L   Sorry, he’s not here just now. He went to get coffee.

A   Oh. It’s his sister, Annie. Can he call me back?

L   Hi, Annie. It’s Leo.

A   Leo? Oh … Leo. Hi!

L   Can you wait a minute? He’ll be back soon.

A   Sure … So … Leo. How are you?

L   I’m … I’m really well. What about you?

A   Oh, great – just great.

L   Oh, good. That’s, erm … great.

A   Yeah.

L   He’s back. … It’s Annie.

D   Oh, good. Just a minute.

L   He’s got coffee for us.

A   Lucky you!

D   There you are.

L   Bye, Annie.

A   Bye.

D   Thanks. Hi, Annie. It’s me.

A   Dan – finally!

D   You let a message.

A   Yes, that’s right. I need your help with something …

1 It’s   2 here   3 message   4 back   5 call

6 minute   7 It’s   8 phoned

A

1982 d (was born)

1995 b (went to live in the USA)

2000 a (got a job as a teacher)

2007 e (met her husband)

2010 c (moved to Germany)

B

1   small

2   with her parents

3   young children

4   to be near Niko

Audioscript

EVA   OK, well 1982 was a very important year for me. I was born in that year! I was born in a small town in the north of Colombia. My whole family lived there – my parents, my grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, everyone. It’s a very nice place, very hot, tropical. I really loved it.

And then 1995 was a very important year. Everything changed. My parents moved to the USA, my father got a job in Minnesota, so we went to live in the USA and I went to school there. I learned English quite quickly.

In 2000, I got my first job. I was a school teacher, I taught small kids, six to ten years old. It was great.

Then in 2007, I met Niko – he’s my husband. He’s German, but we met in the USA, and then in 2010 I moved to Germany to be near him, and we got married last year. And then I found a job, I teach English to business people, so here I am today.