Listening Strategy
Notice the way that speakers emphasise certain words to stress an alternative or to correct what someone has said:
‘Would you like a double room or a single room?’
‘A double room, please.’
‘Does the plane arrive at nine?’ ‘No, it arrives at five.’
‘Dave’s in Paris.’ ‘No, he isn’t. He’s in Rome.’
1. Read the Listening Strategy. Then listen and underline the stressed word in the sentences below.
1 Actually, I ordered the chicken pasta.
2 I need two seats near the front of the plane.
3 No, there’s a bus to the cathedral.
4 I’d rather go to the castle first.
5 The market is very touristy.
Answer
Students should underline:
1 pasta 2 two 3 cathedral 4 castle 5 touristy
Transcript
1 Actually, I ordered the chicken pasta.
2 I need two seats near the front of the plane.
3 No, there’s a bus to the cathedral.
4 I’d rather go to the castle first.
5 The market is very touristy.
2. Listen again. Decide which sentence came before each sentence in exercise 1: a or b. Only one option makes sense with the stressed words.
1 a Here’s your chicken curry, madam.
b Here’s your vegetable pasta, madam.
Actually, I ordered the chicken pasta.
2 a I’ve booked you two seats near the middle of the plane.
b I’ve booked you a seat near the front of the plane.
I need two seats near the front of the plane.
3 a Do we have to walk to the cathedral?
b Is there a bus to the palace?
No, there’s a bus to the cathedral.
4 a Let’s go to the castle later.
b Let’s go to the museum first.
I’d rather go to the castle first.
5 a The market is a good place to visit, isn’t it?
b The whole city is really touristy, isn’t it?
The market is very touristy.
Answer
1 a 2 b 3 b 4 b 5 a
Transcript
see exercise 1.
3. Read the mini-dialogues and underline the word you need to stress in each of B’s lines.
1 A Did you get a new smartphone for your birthday?
B No, I got a new camera for my birthday.
2 A Did you have a good time in Egypt last month?
B We went to Morocco last month.
3 A Did you book a double room for three nights?
B No, I booked a single room for three nights.
4 A Shall we go by taxi or by bus?
B Let’s go by taxi.
5 A I think the zoo is closed in December.
B No, I checked – it’s open in December.
4. Listen and check your answers to exercise 3.
Answer
Students should underline:
1 birthday 2 Morocco 3 single 4 taxi 5 open
Transcript
1 A Did you get a new camera for Christmas?
B No, I got a new camera for my birthday.
2 A Did you have a good time in Egypt last month?
B We went to Morocco last month.
3 A Did you book a double room for three nights?
B No, I booked a single room for three nights.
4 A Shall we go by taxi or by bus?
B Let’s go by taxi.
5 A I think the zoo is closed in December.
B No, I checked – it’s open in December.
5. Listen to a true story. Look at the map and identify the route Sandy Valdivieso and her husband flew. Is it 1, 2, 3 or 4?
1 They flew from A to B to C to D.
2 They flew from A to C to D to B.
3 They flew from A to C to D to C to B.
4 They flew from A to C to D to C to A.
Answer
3 They flew from Los Angeles (A) to Istanbul (C) to
Dhaka (D) to Istanbul (C) to Dakar (B).
Transcript
Sandy Valdivieso and her husband were looking forward to their holiday in Africa. They had tickets for a Turkish Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Dakar, the capital of Senegal in West Africa. However, an airline mix-up sent them 11,000 kilometres away from their destination, to another continent. They boarded their flight at Los Angeles International Airport in the USA. But unfortunately, an airline employee at the airport accidentally entered the wrong three-letter airport code into the flight booking system. The code for Dakar is DKR. But the employee entered DAC, which is the code for Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, in Asia.
The first leg of their flight to Istanbul in Turkey went smoothly, but it was the second leg of the trip that sent them off in the wrong direction. From Turkey, they headed East rather than West.
At first, Sandy and her husband did not notice that there was a problem. When the flight attendant said they were heading to Dhaka, they thought she was saying ‘Dakar’ with a Turkish accent. Several hours into the trip they woke up from a long sleep and noticed the inflight map showed the plane over the Middle East. They then realised the plane was full of passengers who looked Asian, not African. That’s when they knew that there was a serious mistake. But there was nothing they could do about it: they had to continue all the way to Bangladesh!
Once on the ground, it took several hours for the airline to confirm the mistake was their fault. They apologized to Sandy and her husband and 12 hours later, they flew them back to Istanbul. From there, they took the correct plane to Senegal. To say sorry, Turkish Airlines offered the passengers two free economy class tickets to any destination it flies to.
6. Listen again. Are the sentences true (T) or false (F)?
1 Sandy Valdivieso and her husband wanted to visit Africa, not Asia.
2 Their journey went wrong because an employee made a mistake at the airport in Istanbul.
3 They realised something was wrong as soon as the plane left Istanbul.
4 They saw the location of the plane on a map while they were flying.
5 They were in Bangladesh for more than twelve hours.
6 Turkish Airline don’t agree that they made a mistake.
Answer
1 T 2 F 3 F 4 T 5 F 6 F
Transcript
see exercise 5.
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