IELTS Listening

Spelling Practice for IELTS Listening: City Names

Spelling practice for city names and other place names, such as towns. Improve your listening and spelling by listening to the spelling of particular places and writing down the letters you hear. This is important practice for IELTS listening section 1.

Writing down the letters you hear. The place names will be given and then spelled. Each place name will be spelled only once. There are 15 place names to write down.

Listen & Write: 15 Town & City Names

Answers

Birmingham
Carlisle
Chichester
Leicester
Peterborough
Truro
Wolverhampton
Amersham
Framlingham
Gillingham
Goole
Ormskirk
Painswick
Rochdale
Sawbridgeworth

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Filed Under: IELTS Listening

Alphabet Practice for Spelling

by Liz 54 Comments

Alphabet practice for spelling is designed to review the pronunciation of letters for accurate spelling. It’s an easy lesson but worth reviewing to refresh your pronunciation and accuracy for IELTS listening section 1.

Alphabet Review

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Similar Letters Practice

Listen to the pronunciation of the following similar letters.

B / P
D / T
S / X
J / G
M / N
K / Q
U / Y
V / W
Z (UK pronunciation & US pronunciation)

Practice Listening for Letters

Write down the letter you hear. There will be 15 letters given. Each letter will be said only once.

Answers

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Filed Under: IELTS Listening

Brain Drain Listening Practice

by Liz 110 Comments

This listening lesson has two different types of questions: list selection and sentence completion. This will also test your ability to know when to move from one question to the next. Make sure you use this lesson to also learn useful vocabulary because the brain drain is a common topic in writing task 2.

IELTS Listening Multiple Choice: Long List Selection Practice

As you can see, this multiple choice practice listening does not have the usual three answer options. Instead you are given a long list and must choose a number of options from the list. The first list is for three questions.

The recording covers all questions from 1 to 5, so be ready to move quickly to the next set of questions.

Questions 1-3

Which three reasons are given for the brain drain? Choose the correct letters A-G.

A) money
B) promotion opportunities
C) working with other professionals
D) quality of life
E) state-of-the-art equipment
F) political advancement
G) unemployment

Question 4

What problem does the brain drain cause developing countries? Choose one letter.

A) resentment
B) loss of facilities
C) conflict between remaining professionals
D) loss of reputation
E) loss of money
F) loss of materials

Question 5

Complete the sentence using no more than one word and/or a number.

In 2000, …….. million people, who were living outside their country of origin for more than one year, were employed.

RECORDING:

TRANSCRIPT & ANSWERS

Answers

A
D
E (answers to questions 1-3 can be given in any order)
E
65

Transcript

Brain drain is the migration of skilled human resources for trade, education, health care and other sectors. Trained health professionals are needed in every part of the world. However, better standards of living draw many of them to more developed countries. Others decide to make the move because of better remuneration or for access to advanced modern technology. For some the stable political conditions in the developed countries attract talent from less developed areas. The majority of migration is from developing to developed countries. This is of growing concern worldwide because of its impact on the health care systems in developing countries. These countries have invested in the education and training of young health professionals. This translates into a loss of considerable resources when these people migrate, with the benefit accruing to the recipient states who have not forked out to educate them. The intellectuals of any country are some of the most expensive resources because of their training in terms of material cost and time, and most importantly, because of lost opportunity. In 2000 almost 175 million people, or 2.9% of the world’s population, were living outside their country of birth for more than a year. Of these, about 65 million were economically active. This form of migration has in the past involved many health professionals: nurses and physicians have sought employment abroad for many reasons including high unemployment in their home country. (read more about this)

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Filed Under: IELTS Listening Tagged With: work topic

Listening Practice for Numbers

by Liz 69 Comments

This lesson focuses on listening for numbers. There are three sections of listening and each section has 10 questions. Make sure you have a pencil and paper ready.

Write down the numbers you hear. Each listening has 10 or 9 numbers.

Numbers 1 to 100

Listen to the recording and write down the numbers you hear between 1 and 100.

For answers, click below:

Answers

Numbers from 100 to 1,000

Listen to the recording and write down the numbers you hear between 100 and 1,000.

For answers, click below:

Answers

Numbers from 1,000 to 1,000,000

Listen to the recording and write down the numbers you hear between 1,000 and 1,000,000.

For answers, click below:

Answers

2,350
6,719
10,300
80,500 (this one is missing from the audio)
65,000
12,450
15,000
28,560
990,999

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New Year in Vietnam: IELTS Listening Practice

by Liz 136 Comments

This is an IELTS listening exercise which I have made for my Vietnamese students about their wonderful New Year’s celebration called Tết. It is a Sentence Completion listening practice so you will need to fill in the gaps as you listen. This is the most common type of question to get in IELTS Listening. Remember to read the questions before listening to the audio. Answers do come in order.

Tết Holiday (Vietnamese New Year)

Listening Practice

Complete the sentences using no more than three words.

Another name for Tết is (1) ………………
One typical dish at this time is a soup which is made from (2) ………………..
(3) …………… is given to older people and kids.
At Tết, houses are adorned with (4) ………………… and kumquat trees.
(5) ……….. the house is forbidden during Tết.

ANSWERS

Click below to reveal the transcript, answers and vocabulary. I provide the transcript so you can check the answers in context and improving your pronunciation.

Transcript

Tết is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year, though exceptions arise due to the one-hour time difference between Hanoi and Beijing. It takes place from the first day of the first month of the Vietnamese calendar (around late January or early February) until at least the third day. Vietnamese people consider Tết to be the first day of spring and the festival is often called spring festival.

Many Vietnamese prepare for Tết by cooking special holiday foods and cleaning the house. These foods include square rice cake, Vietnamese sausage, dried young bamboo soup, sticky rice and boiled chicken. There are a lot of customs practiced during Tết, such as visiting a person’s house on the first day of the new year, ancestral worship, wishing New Year’s greetings and giving lucky money to children and elderly people.

There are certain things to observe during Tết and certain things to avoid. Houses are thoroughly cleaned in preparation for Tết. People buy kumquat trees and peach blossom to decorate their houses. There are dragon or lion dances in the streets. New clothes should be bought for every member of the family. And on New Year’s Eve, the kitchen god, Ong Tao, is welcomed back to the kitchen. On the other hand, some things must be avoided. Sweeping during Tết is taboo and considered to be unlucky, since it symbolizes sweeping away the luck; that is why they clean before the new year. It is also taboo for anyone who experienced a recent loss of a family member to visit anyone else during Tết.

Note: I made a mistake in the audio in the second sentence. I said Chinese instead of Vietnamese. Sorry to all my Vietnamese students for that. Liz

Answers

SPRING FESTIVAL
(DRIED) (YOUNG) BAMBOO
- This means there are three possible answers to this question:
- bamboo / young bamboo / dried young bamboo
- some books use brackets to show optional answers in the answer keys – but you can’t do this in your test. You can’t use brackets in the listening test.
(LUCKY) MONEY
PEACH BLOSSOM
1. both words are needed
2. no punctuation is needed between the words – just leave a reasonable space
SWEEPING

Vocabulary

arises = happens
it is often called = it is frequently named
ancestral worship = praying to ancestors (past family members)
to observe = to follow (this is when relating to celebrations or festivals)
sweeping = using a brush to clean the floor
luck (noun) / lucky (adjective)
taboo = forbidden

MORE VOCABULARY

square cake (bánh chưng) = A cake which is made from sticky rice, mung bean and pork wrapped in leaves.

kumquat = A small citrus fruit similar to an orange. Both peel and flesh is eaten.

peach blossom = flowers on a peach tree

If you would like me to make a lesson about a festival or part of your culture, please let me know the details by posting a comment in the box below. Regards, Liz.

Filed Under: IELTS Listening Tagged With: People and Society Topic

IELTS Listening Summary Completion: Practice & Tips

by Liz 70 Comments

IELTS listening summary completion essential tips and practice. These questions are quite common in the listening test and can appear in any section. You are required to listen and select the correct words or numbers to fill in the gaps.

IELTS LISTENING SUMMARY COMPLETION TIPS

Essential tips and techniques to tackle summary questions in IELTS Listening:

Task: You will be given a paragraph with missing words.
1. Your task is to fill in the gaps with words or numbers from the recording to complete the paragraph.
A Summary: The paragraph is a summary. This means you are not going to hear each sentence the same as in the recording. The information in the paragraph is summarised which means it focuses on key information rather than all details.
Title: The summary completion questions will have a title. This will tell you what the paragraph focuses on.
Answer Order: The answers will come in order in the recording. So, you will hear the answer to question 1 and after that the answer to question 2.
Word Count: You will be told how many words or number you can have in your answer. Pay attention to this information.
Similar: A summary completion contains the same questions as a Sentence Completion because you are completing sentence within the summary paragraph. You can use the same techniques for these questions. For example:
- Predict the type of answer from the sentence given: noun, verb etc.
- Grammar is important. The sentence must be grammatically correct when you complete it.
- Keywords in the question are critical to keeping your place and spotting the correct answer.
- See all tips on this page: SENTENCE COMPLETION TIPS
Paraphrasing: Some of the words in the summary paragraph will be paraphrased and others will not. You can’t predict which words will be the same or not. but be ready for synonyms and re-phrasing.
Precise Words: Your answer must be the precise word from the recording. You can’t alter the word.
Spelling counts. Check your spelling because words incorrectly spelled are marked wrong.

IELTS LISTENING SUMMARY COMPLETION PRACTICE

Listening Practice Lesson 1

Buckingham Palace

Questions 1-7: Complete the summary using no more than one word or a number.

Buckingham Palace is where the Queen officially resides when she is in London and is well known for its famous 1 …………….., which was used for the first time by a royal during an official appearance in 2……………….. There were 3 ………… bomb hits to the palace in World War II which struck the palace with absolute precision. There are a range of services available to the royal residents in the palace, which has a total of 4 ………. rooms. There are 1,514 doors in the palace and 5 …………………. windows, which are cleaned once every six weeks. The Queen hosts more than 6 ……………… people each year for occasions such as banquets, various meals, receptions and 7 ………………..parties.

RECORDING:

Transcript and Answers

Click below to reveal the answers and transcript for this lesson:

Transcript

Buckingham Palace is The Queen’s official London residence. The balcony of Buckingham Palace is one of the most famous in the world. The first recorded Royal balcony appearance took place in 1851, when Queen Victoria stepped onto it during celebrations for the opening of the Great Exhibition. During the Second World War, Buckingham Palace suffered nine direct bomb hits.

Buckingham Palace has its own chapel, post office, swimming pool, staff cafeteria, doctor’s surgery and cinema. There are 775 rooms in the palace. Some rooms at Buckingham Palace have a Chinese theme. There are 1,514 doors and 760 windows in Buckingham Palace. All windows are cleaned every six weeks. More than 50,000 people visit the Palace annually as The Queen’s guests at banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions and garden parties.

Answers

balcony
1851
9 / nine
775
760
50,000
garden

Adapted from royal.gov.uk

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Listening Practice Lesson 2

The Terracotta Army

Questions 1-5: Complete the summary using no more than three words and /or a number.

The terracotta army was made in order to 1…………………… the emperor after this death in his afterlife. This funerary art has been estimated to be from the 2………………. and was discovered in 1974 by the 3…………………… The majority of the sculptures were 4.…………. and 5………….. sculptures of cavalry horses were also found.

RECORDING:

TRANSCRIPT, ANSWERS & VOCABULARY

Click below:

Transcript

The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BC and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife.
The figures, dating from approximately the late third century BC, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in, Xi’an. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Estimates from 2007 were that the three pits containing the Terracotta Army held more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which remained buried in the pits nearby. Other terracotta non-military figures were found in other pits, including officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians. (from wiki)

Answers

protect
third century BC / 3rd century BC
local farmers
soldiers
150

Vocab Builder

sculpture = three-dimensional work of art (for example a statue)
to depict =show, illustrate, represent
funerary art = art which for funerals, when someone dies
purpose = aim / function
afterlife = some cultures (past and present) believe in life after death
figures = a person’s bodily shape, a copy of a person, such as a statue
vary = differ
warrior = soldier
chariot = a horse-drawn vehicle (particularly common in later periods of Ancient Egypt and also Ancient Rome)
majority = greater part
a pit = a hole in the ground
acrobat = an entertain who is excellent in gymnastic, daring achievements

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Filed Under: IELTS Listening Tagged With: buildings topic, summary completion

IELTS Listening Map Techniques & Practice

by Liz 146 Comments

Maps frequently appear in the IELTS listening test. They can appear in any section, although it is more common to find them in Section 2. Below you will find useful tips and techniques to tackle a map completion question in IELTS listening with some map practice lessons as well to hone your skills.

IELTS Listening Maps: Essential Tips

Below are a few tips and techniques to help you tackle map questions in IELTS listening. Hopefully you will already have prepared language for maps because they do appear in IELTS Writing Task 1 Academic test.

Maps can appear in any part of the listening test, although they appear more often in section 2. Section 2 is one speaker talking about something of general interest, such as a museum or, in the practice lesson below, a farm.
Maps are visual so there is a lot to look at in a short amount of time before the recording begins. For this reason, you need to be ready to tackle this type of question.
First notice the title which tells you what the map is showing.
Notice next the number of buildings, facilities or rooms. Notice their names and their location.
- Maps will nearly always have rooms and buildings labelled to help you. These words are likely to appear in the recording.
- When you see the location of the places on the map, you’ll be able to recognise the type of language you might here, such as:
  - beyond, next to, after that, further in, to the side, to the left, to the east, opposite, at the end of the road, by the gate etc.
Then check the location of the questions. The questions will come in order in the recording, but they might be placed in different parts of the map. So, make sure you know where they are on the map and which order they are in so you can move to the next question easily.
Locate north. This is often helpful if it is given on the map.
See if there are any arrows or if the map shows a logical path that the speaker might take as they talk about the place. Don’t forget that the speaker will always give information in a logical order as they describe the place.
Always note how many words you need for the answers. Many people forget to read the instructions properly.
As you move from question to question, follow the order of information in the recording. You’ll notice which places on the map have been mentioned so that you can keep your place in the recording. Getting lost in the recording is a common reason why people miss answers.
Most map recordings are similar to a guided tour which follows a logical order.
Don’t be distracted by extra information. you will hear a lot of extra words. Don’t get lost in detail and focus on listening for those answers.

Now it’s time to practice listening for maps. Use this as learning curve to see where your strengths and weakness lie in tackling these questions.

Practice Lessons for IELTS Map Listening

IELTS Map Listening Practice 1

The Taj Mahal

In this listening exercise, you will listen for questions 1 to 7 in the recording. But questions 1 and 2 are not map labelling, only questions 3-7 are map labelling. This means you need to listen carefully to know when to move from questions 1-2 to questions 3-7 about the map.

Questions 1-2: Complete the sentences below using no more than one word and/or a number.

The Taj Mahal was completed in ……………..
Around ………… labourers were used in its creation.

Questions 3-7

Label the map below using no more than two words and/or a number.

Recording:

TRANSCRIPT AND ANSWERS

Click below to reveal the transcript and answers to this lesson. The transcript is given as a way to check answers. You will not get this in the test. I like to provide transcripts so that people can review their answers to see precisely why they got a question right or wrong. With map listening exercises, it’s useful to review language as well.

Transcript

Welcome to the Taj Mahal. This is one of the most famous monuments to love in the world. It was built between 1631 and 1653 in the city of Agra by the Mughal Emperor Shah as a mausoleum for his wife. The construction involved some 20,000 workers and incorporated materials from China, Tibet, Sri Lanka and Arabia.

We are here at the Outer Gate and directly in front of us is the forecourt. On the left hand side of the forecourt, you will see some subsidiary tombs and opposite that are the tomb attendants’ quarters. If you go straight ahead, you will come to the Great Gate and beyond that is the formal gardens. The gardens are divided into 4 sections by paths which represent the 4 rivers of paradise. Midway, where the paths intersect, is a marble pond, in which the mausoleum is beautifully reflected. Walking through the gardens, past the pond, you will come to the mausoleum itself which has a marble dome, 35m high. Each side of the building has archways which are framed by carefully chosen verses from the Qur’an in beautifully stylised calligraphy. To the left of this, is the mosque and to the right you can find a guesthouse. Now I’ll give you some time to wander round and see this marvel for yourself.

Answers

1653
20,000
forecourt (you must have the correct spelling)
Great Gate (capital letters not important – see IELTS Exam FAQ page)
pond / marble pond
mausoleum
guesthouse / guest house

*******************

IELTS Map Listening Practice 2

The Farm

Questions 1 – 4: Complete the diagram using no more than two words.

RECORDING:

MAP ANSWERS & TRANSCRIPT

Click below to reveal the transcript, answers and a list of keywords. I suggest you use the transcript after you complete the listening lesson to listen and read, then check the answer key.

Click below:

Transcript

As you drive up the driveway you will immediately arrive in the parking area. You will see to your left the farmhouse where the farmer lives as you drive up and directly to the left of the parking area is the main shed. There are a number of smaller sheds located around the main shed which are not currently labelled on the map. In the northwest corner of the farm is a pasture area which is a wide grassy expanse. It provides rich organic grass for our cows and, along with other types of feed, gives us our organic status and key selling point. From the parking area, you go east through the milk house, which is used daily, and then into the barn. This is where the cows are often sheltered. On the other side of the barn is the manure storage. To the north you will find the calf hutches which are located just beyond the maternity pens. Only 30% of our cows are used for breeding. In the bottom left corner of the barn is the loading chute. To the south are two circular areas, one of which is the feed storage and the other the deadstock area. We hope you will enjoy looking around our farm and learning about how we manage our cows.

Answers

pasture area
milk house
maternity pens
feed storage

Keywords

Knowing keywords for maps and building plans is essential for success in IELTS listening. Here are some words from the recording.

You will see to your left…
directly to the left of ….
located around
which are not currently labelled on the map
In the northwest corner
From the parking area, you go east
On the other side
To the north you will find
which are located just beyond….
In the bottom left corner of the barn
To the south are two circular areas

Adapted from royal.gov.uk

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Filed Under: IELTS Listening Tagged With: buildings topic, map completion

Listening Practice: Big Numbers

by Liz 49 Comments

Improve your listening skills with this listening practice with big numbers. It is common in all section of the IELTS listening test to be asked to listen and write down large numbers.

Listen to the recording below and write down the numbers you hear. There are 10 numbers to listening for.

Recording:

Answers

Click below for answers:

Answers

451
730
1,600
2,460
6,768
10,550
20,200
35,050
102,700
1,400,002

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Listen & Write: 15 Town & City Names

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IELTS Listening Multiple Choice: Long List Selection Practice

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Numbers 1 to 100

Numbers from 100 to 1,000

Numbers from 1,000 to 1,000,000

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Tết Holiday (Vietnamese New Year)

IELTS LISTENING SUMMARY COMPLETION TIPS

IELTS LISTENING SUMMARY COMPLETION PRACTICE

Listening Practice Lesson 1

Listening Practice Lesson 2

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IELTS Listening Maps: Essential Tips

Practice Lessons for IELTS Map Listening

IELTS Map Listening Practice 1

IELTS Map Listening Practice 2

RECORDING:

MAP ANSWERS & TRANSCRIPT

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