IELTS Preparation Series 2, Episode 21: Health

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Hello. I'm

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Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation.

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The focus of today's lesson is the IELTS Listening Test.

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In the IELTS Listening Test, you will be tested on your ability to understand spoken English

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in a variety of contexts, so it's important to develop a range of skills that will help

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you with your listening.

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A good way to prepare for the test is to develop your previewing and predicting skills. These

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strategies will help improve your listening comprehension.

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Let's imagine this graphic is a written part of a listening test - a fact sheet.

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You are always given 30 seconds to familiarise yourself with the questions before the listening

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section is played.

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This is when you'll need to use your previewing and predicting skills. They will help you

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learn as much as possible before you listen, so you will know what you will be listening

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to and what you need to listen for.

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Let's start previewing and predicting. Look at the section again. Think about the following

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questions:

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What is the topic?

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Who is speaking?

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Where are they?

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Why are they talking?

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OK. Let's think about the first question you should ask: What is the topic?

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We know from the title of the fact sheet that this section will be about 'health and well-being.

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Next: Who is speaking?

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Because this is a section3 of an IELTS Listening Test, we know that it will be a conversation

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between 2 to 4 speakers about an educational topic. The speakers could be teachers or students.

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Where are they?

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We could guess they are at university. Why are they talking?

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We know from the fact sheet that they are discussing a health study.

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These previewing and predicting skills are very important. You should go through these

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steps before the actual listening test begins, so you are properly prepared.

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It's important to look at the key words in the questions to determine what kind of information

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you need to listen for.

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The key words are highlighted:

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How many children are being tracked?

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We need to listen for a number.

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What are the researchers checking?

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We need to listen for something about the children's health.

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How old are the participants?

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We're listening for age.

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Another skill the listening test assesses is your ability to follow instructions correctly.

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If we look again at the written part of the test, what does the question ask us to do?

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To answer using no more than 3 words or a number. You must read and follow this instruction

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exactly.

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Remember that the listening test is played once only, so it is important to prepare yourself

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well.

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Let's listen now. The announcer would start off by saying something like:

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You are going to hear a passage about a study on the health and well-being of children.

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Listen to the talk, and complete the notes.

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For the past two decades, scientists have been tracking the health and well being of

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7,500 Queensland children in a unique long-term study. It's rather like a scientific version

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of the documentary series '7 Up'. Every few years, researchers revisit the participants

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to check their growth and record their thoughts on life. Now, those chosen to take part in

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the study as babies are coming of age, turning 21 and the data they've provided is giving

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valuable insights into just why some children are healthier than others.

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Well done! Now let's move on.

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Now we're going to talk about listening for main ideas and supporting information.

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This is important to test your ability to identify and understand the relationship between

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ideas, such as: comparisons, examples, facts, opinions, cause and effect.

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Here's an example. I'm going to give some information about sport. Identify what my

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main idea is, and what information I provided to support my main idea.

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Sport provides numerous benefits. Participation in sport can have a positive effect on a person's

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well being, and at the same time improve their coordination. Also, it has been proven to

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help fight disease.

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One way your comprehension might be tested is with a summary completion test.

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Let's imagine this next graphic is part of a listening test where you have to complete

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the summary.

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Here's our three-step strategy:

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Skim the summary to get a general understanding

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While skimming highlight the key words in the sentences

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Then, think about the word form that is needed for each answer.

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Having skimmed the question, we know that it is about a scientific study on the health

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of young people.

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The key words are: young people, alcohol, drugs, data, things, happened, how.

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What is the word form we need in Question 1?

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The study focused on young people who have a _____ on alcohol.

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Before the blank we have a determiner, a, while the preposition on follows the blank.

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We need a noun.

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What word form do we need in Question 2?

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After the pronoun she/he, which also functions as a subject, we need a verb.

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Look at the other verbs - The verbs pointed and happened in the sentence are in the past

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tense. We need a past tense verb.

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We have now prepared ourselves for this section of the listening test.

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Let's listen now. The announcer would start off by saying something like:

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You are going to hear a Professor talking about his investigation into the mental and

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physical health of young people. Listen to the talk, and complete the summary.

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For me, it's compelling. It's totally compelling. You look at someone at 21 who, say, has a

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dependence on alcohol or is using illicit drugs or has a serious mental illness or is

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violent and perhaps already in prison, and you look back through 21 years of that person's

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life; you've collected data periodically, and you look at the range of things that have

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happened to that person and the ways that person's responded.

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Well done! If you practise your listening skills and strategies you will be better prepared

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for the IELTS Listening Test!

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Always remember our three-step strategy for summary completion tasks.

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Skim the summary to get a general understanding. Remember a summary is a short presentation

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of what you hear.

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While skimming, highlight the keywords in the sentences.

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Choose the correct word from noun, adjective, verb, adverb that's needed. Remember look

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before and after the blank space. The strategies for answering questions that

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test this skill are covered on our Study English website. Just go to abcasiapacific.com/studyenglish.

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That's all for today. I'll see you next time. Bye bye.

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