B23zizL7 Listening skills - Following a lecture or talk

1.1 Listen to part of a talk by Paul, an Australian palaeontologist. To help practise keeping ttrack of the talk, put the phrases below in the order you hear them.

- The very first field trip i went on

- It's an ancestor of the modern Australian wombat

- I found a funny-looking piece of rock

- an old professor studying dried-up dinosaur bones

- I immediately changed courses

- I had to do a compulsory unit on extinction

• - The very first field trip i went on (5)

  - It's an ancestor of the modern Australian wombat (2)

  - I found a funny-looking piece of rock (4)

  - an old professor studying dried-up dinosaur bones (3)

  - I immediately changed courses (1)

  - I had to do a compulsory unit on extinction (6)

• - The very first field trip i went on (5)

  - It's an ancestor of the modern Australian wombat (3)

  - I found a funny-looking piece of rock (6)

  - an old professor studying dried-up dinosaur bones (1)

  - I immediately changed courses (4)

  - I had to do a compulsory unit on extinction (2)

• - The very first field trip i went on (5)

  - It's an ancestor of the modern Australian wombat (3)

  - I found a funny-looking piece of rock (6)

  - an old professor studying dried-up dinosaur bones (2)

  - I immediately changed courses (1)

  - I had to do a compulsory unit on extinction (4)

1.2. Which of the following describes the main topic of the talk ?

a. Important lectures Paul has given

b. Describing the process that led to Paul's current role

c. Explaining how ancient Australian animals became extinct

• a

• b

• c

1.3 Think about your answer to 1.2 and listen again. Which three phrases in 1.1 are used to give information that is directly related to the main purpose of the talk?

- The very first field trip i went on (1)

- It's an ancestor of the modern Australian wombat (2)

- I found a funny-looking piece of rock (3)

- an old professor studying dried-up dinosaur bones (4)

- I immediately changed courses (5)

- I had to do a compulsory unit on extinction (6)

• - The very first field trip i went on

  - It's an ancestor of the modern Australian wombat

  - an old professor studying dried-up dinosaur bones

• - It's an ancestor of the modern Australian wombat

  - an old professor studying dried-up dinosaur bones

  - I immediately changed courses

• - I found a funny-looking piece of rock

  - I immediately changed courses

  - I had to do a compulsory unit on extinction

• - It's an ancestor of the modern Australian wombat

  - an old professor studying dried-up dinosaur bones

  - I immediately changed courses

Answer explanation

1.4 Look at the summary below and write questions related to the information missing from each gap.

Ex: 1. What was Paul interested in? / Why did Paul take an ecology course?

Answer explanation

1.5 Listen to the talk again and complete the summary with ONE WORK ONLY.

Paul was interested in 1....... so took an ecology course at university

The course included a section on 2......... and an interesting lecture caused him to quickly change his degree.

Paul says working in palaeontology can be difficult and he describes the condition as 3......... However , the discovery of a 4......... from an ancient animal made him realise he had make the right choice.

Answer explanation

1. environment

2. extinction

3. extreme

4 .tooth

The topics and language in Listening Section 3 and 4 are more complex . Here are some examples of the imfomation you may hear.

A. the methods used in a particular study

B. the effects of an action

C. the reason an action was carried about

D. the conculsions that can be drawn from research

E. the findings of an experiment

2.1 Listen to four extracts from Listening Section 3 and 4 . Decide what type of information above (A-E) you hear in each.

• 1.A

  2.C

  3.E

  4.D

• 1.E

  2.B

  3.A

  4.D

• 1.C

  2.A

  3.E

  4.D

2.2 Listen to the second part of Paul's talk. Answer questions 1-4 with NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS

1. What information does Paul get from the machine he mentions ?

Answer explanation

a date

2. What did the goverment recently give Paul?

Answer explanation

a grand/funds

3. What modern-day problem does he say ancient animals can help with?

Answer explanation

climate change

4. what two causes of mega-fauna extinction does Paul hope to study ?

Answer explanation

humans, nature