Rule the page before anyone speaks
Two lines down the page make three columns. Head them left, middle and right, and swap in names as you hear them.
CELPIP GymListening courseLesson 5 · Listening Part 5, discussion
Three speakers, one grid
Part 5 takes marks by blurring people together: three voices, each idea knocked down by the next, and questions afterwards about who wanted what. Give every person a column and the talk sorts itself.
5 minutes to read
1
A column per speaker
A single running list turns three people into one voice. Rule a column for each person, and put every position under its owner. When someone changes their mind, the position crosses the page. Scroll and watch the grid fill.
Why it scores. Wrong choices here are real positions handed to the wrong person or the wrong moment. A column ties each position to its owner.
Beats the wrong-speaker trap
A proposal goes under its owner
It goes in Ingrid's column: what she wants, and the number, in three words. Numbers go by in passing here, so catch it now.
The objection strikes it
Tomasz knocks it down and offers his own. Strike hers, write his reason beside it, and start his idea in his column.
And the next speaker strikes that
Farah does the same to Tomasz. Your notes now step down the page like a staircase. Nothing is settled until someone agrees.
Now positions cross the page
This is what the grid is for. Ingrid drops her idea and takes Farah's, and Tomasz joins with a condition. Carry each position across to its new column, condition included.
Read along the bottom
The questions come after the recording, all on one screen, in any order. Do the who-ended-up-where ones first: the bottom row answers them at a glance. The struck ideas are where the wrong choices come from.
The sceneA curling club committee needs a new ice plant and has no money for one.
Tomasz will support renting out the hall as long as
Ingrid
Tomasz
Farah
Fee up $40Seniors would quit
Sponsor dealOne season only
Rent out hall
Rent out hall
Hall, if someone else books
Rent out hall
2
The last proposal standing
Each idea here gets knocked down by the next person, but never write one off. Beside every proposal, note why it fell, in two or three words. Then listen for a rescue: "going back to", "what if we still". A fallen idea with one repair can win.
Why it scores. The questions ask what the group settled on and why the other ideas failed. Each fallen idea with its reason beside it answers both.
Wins the "why was it rejected" questions
Dev: Let's sell Gran's piano online. Sara: Nobody buys old uprights, you'd pay to have it hauled. Give it to the school. Dev: They've got no room, I called. Amir: Keep it at your place, then. Dev: Third floor, no elevator. Sara: Hang on, going back to the school. The church hall next door has a stage.
- Sell online
Sell online: nobody buys old uprights
- + the church hallGive to school
School: no room, until the hall
- Keep at Dev's
Dev's place: third floor, no elevator
3
A term explained in passing is a question
Somewhere in the talk, someone uses a term and explains it to the others in a few quick words. Drop whatever you're writing and catch that explanation, because it won't come twice. In the margin: the term, an equals sign, and the explanation in your own short words.
Why it scores. This part likes to slip a new term past you and explain it once. A question on it will use other words, so the explanation you caught is your only way to the mark.
Wins the what-does-it-mean questions
So the landlord's given us right of first refusal, which basically means if anyone else makes an offer on the unit, we get to match it. Anyway, about the floors…
right of first refusal=can match any other offer
Right of first refusal means the studio
- which means
- what we call
- basically
- in other words
- that's when
4
Read the faces, score the words
The three speakers are on screen while you listen, and on test day they're filmed. Use your first look to see who sits where, and head your columns in that order. After that, glance up while someone else is talking: a frown from the listener tells you whose column is about to change. The screen is gone when the questions come.
Why it scores. Expressions give you context, but the answers are in what people say. A reaction only readies your pen, so don't spend a glance on clothes or the room.
Catches a change of mind early
- leftNoorcat till April
- middleHana
- rightBen!allergic
Noor: So it's settled. The cat stays until April.
Ben: The only thing is, I'm allergic.
The clock, spent well
One clock for all eight questionsFirst passWho ended up where: read along the bottom row.
Second passWhy each idea fell: the reasons beside your strikes.
The last secondsThe term in your margin, then a guess in anything empty.
Quick hacks for Part 5
Smaller than a move, and just as easy to forget on the day.
- PadA number goes in its speaker's column
Figures go by in passing here. A number under the wrong name is a wrong answer waiting to be chosen.
- Words"Fair point" is a position moving
Nobody announces a change of mind. Listen for fair point, I hadn't thought of that and you've convinced me, and carry the note across.
- PadDon't tidy the grid
The talk is long and never pauses. A messy note in the right column beats a neat one written late.
- If it slipsLost who's talking? Listen for a name
A name said out loud is the person being spoken to. So the speaker is one of the other two.
Take this into the test
- 1Three columns ruled before the talk starts: left, middle, right.
- 2Strike with the objector's reason, and carry a position across when someone changes sides.
- 3Term equals explanation, in the margin. Then read along the bottom row.