Practice Listening English Exercises for A2 – Useful websites

1   1 Ben   2 Katy   3 Andrea

Audioscript

1

Dr Mandy:   I’m very sorry to hear about your problem. Studying alone isn’t easy. But it doesn’t mean you can’t have friends. There are lots of ways to meet people. What activities do you enjoy doing? Maybe you should think about joining some clubs, for example drama or dance. Make sure you have lots of contacts in your phone or online, and remember to call people. Waiting for them to contact you first isn’t always a good idea.

2

Dr Mandy:   Thank you for writing to the website. I can understand why you aren’t happy about what your friend is doing. But don’t be too angry. After all, it means she thinks you look great! I think you should try to talk to her about how you feel and explain why you don’t want her to do it. Also, why not offer to go shopping with her? If you decide to do this, you can give her advice and help her to find her own way of dressing. Good luck!

3

Dr Mandy:   I know that leaving your friends behind is difficult, but if you want to improve, you should be in the higher class. You’ll get better at dancing and you’ll probably make new friends, too. And here’s another idea – why don’t you tell your friends to practise a bit more? Offer to help them in your free time. Then maybe the teacher will ask them to move up too.

1

Speaker 1 – c

Speaker 2 – a

Speaker 3 – b

2

Speaker 1: 11, 99p, 100, play a physics game

Speaker 2: 15, £1.50, 30, make a list of your jobs

Speaker 3: 12, free, 70, learn about geography, do quizzes, test yourself

Audioscript

Speaker 1:   I’m 14 now and I wrote my first app when I was 11. It’s a physics puzzle called Catch the Ball. There are 56 levels and you get different things to help you complete each level, like nets and wheels, and pieces of wood. It costs 99p and it’s still quite popular. About 100 people a week download it. I’ve got lots of ideas for new games, too.

Speaker 2:   I’m 16 and I wrote my first app with a friend last year, when I was 15. I got the idea when I was studying for a test and I needed to organise my work. You write a list of all the jobs you have to do into the app, and then it helps you remember to do them, and not be late with everything. It costs £1.50 to download. Some people say it’s too expensive, but I don’t agree. 30 people a week download it. I’m still working on it – there’s always something to improve!

Speaker 3:   I’m 15 and the apps I write are all educational, and they are all free. The first one I made was when I was 12. It’s all about geography and teaches young children about the countries of the world. Around 70 people a week download it. It has information and quizzes so you can test yourself. At the moment I have 18 apps that people can download, and lots of ideas for more.

1   1 S   2 C   3 C   4 C   5 S

2   1 ✗   2 ✓   3 ✗   4 ✓   5 ✓   6 ✗

Audioscript

Cathy:   What are you listening to, Stuart?

Stuart:   It’s a band I didn’t know. I’m listening to them for the first time now. They’re good.

Cathy:   Oh, is it music from the website you told me about the other day?

Stuart:   No, it’s a different one. I’ll show you the site on my phone. Look, it only has very modern music. There’s no music on the site from before 2015.

Cathy:   Oh, yes, Looks interesting. Is it an American website?

Stuart:   Actually it’s Australian but it has music on it from all over the world. I like it – it’s really fun.

Cathy:   So can you download songs from it for free?

Stuart:   At the moment I can, but only for the first 30 days I use the site. After that, I have to pay £18 a month!

Cathy:   Oh dear, that’s not cheap. So do you like a lot of the music on there?

Stuart:   Quite a lot of it, yes. Some of it’s a bit crazy.

Cathy:   Do you know how many songs there are on there?

Stuart:   It’s got about ten thousand – sorry, a hundred thousand – songs to choose from. Some are videos and some of them you can only listen to.

Cathy:   Wow! That’s a lot. Can you upload songs as well?

Stuart:   That’s the best thing. All the songs on the site are by normal people, not pop stars or big bands.

Cathy:   Really? Well what about our band, then? We could record one of our songs and put it up there.

Stuart:   We could. But we need to practise a lot first.

1 1920   2 indoor   3 Spain   4 1993   5 indoor

6 10 (5 in each team)   7 Brazil

Audioscript

Teacher:   So, each group is going to tell us about a type of football. Jack, let’s start with your group.

Jack:   OK. Well, we found out about table football, which probably started in about 1920. You usually have two or four players. It’s very popular in youth clubs and some people play it at home. Both men and women play, but the 11 wooden or plastic players in each team are nearly always men! There are international competitions in Europe and the United States and in the future more countries will take part.

Teacher:   Thank you. Now Lily, what about your group?

Lily:   We want to talk about futsal. This is a sport that people play at a sports centre, usually inside. It began in Uruguay when a teacher organised the game on basketball courts in 1930. At first, it was just for men but now there are a lot of women’s futsal teams. There are five players in each team. The best teams are from South America and Spain because lots of people play futsal in these countries.

Teacher:   Ah, that’s interesting. How about you, Oliver?

Oliver:   Well, we think that video game football is a great game. The first FIFA game appeared in 1993. Each weekend, more than 200 million FIFA matches take place all over the world in people’s living rooms, bedrooms, and even kitchens. Girls play as well as boys, and on the screen there are men’s and women’s teams. There are different options for the number of players, but I think the maximum is eight.

Teacher:   So this kind of football is popular everywhere! Now, finally Jessie, what kind of football did you choose?

Jessie:   Did you know that football for blind people is a Paralympic sport? The ball makes a sound so that they can play by using their ears and feet! It started in Spain in the 1920s and the first World Championship was in 1998. It’s a Paralympic sport but there are only men’s teams at the moment. There are five players in each team, but only two players can see – the goalkeepers. Nowadays, people play in many countries, but especially Brazil.