Comprehension Questions
As you listen, decide if the following questions are true or false according to what Corina says.
1) Music is good to listen to after a hard day at work.
2) Corina finds it difficult to find examples of Romanian folklore to listen to.
3) Music offers therapeutic benefits.
4) Young people have problems listening to music because their batteries need charging
Transcript
This recording features Corina from Romania who is preparing for CPE (Certificate of Proficiency in English). In this interview we looked at the skill of giving spontaneous talks, a task in the CPE speaking paper and used the topic:
‘Why is music important around the world?’
which was taken from the CPE Handbook available from the Cambridge ESOL website.
Corina was asked to think about how to structure a spontaneous talk, knowing she would only have seconds to prepare. We looked at Unit 6 of ‘Splendid Speaking’, which gives tips on how to structure a spontaneous talk and in particular, how to use the ‘rule of threes’ to organise a talk. People often find it easy to remember things in threes and using this strategy can help both you and your audience. As you listen decide how well Corina managed to do this and whether she kept to the two-minute time limit.
It’s quite natural that a non-native speaker will find it difficult to talk continuously for two minutes on a subject they’ve had no time to prepare. The result is often a series of ‘errrs’ or ‘stretched’ final syllables while the student thinks of what to say next. As you listen to Corina decide whether this is an area for her to focus on. Finally, make a note of Corina’s use of English, which we’ll look at in the feedback section. Let’s listen to Corina:
… … Music is … certainly of crucial importance for people all around the world and I’ll give you a lot of reasons for this … first of all it’s … important because it helps people to relax to enjoy life and … I’m sure that everyone who has come back home from … from a very … stressful workday has enjoyed listening to … to music and receive … and get a new lease of life … secondly, it’s very important … to keep your … tradition and as I am concerned I used to listen … a lot of … Romanian folklore and think about how life would be without folklore or tradition … and thirdly it’s very important because … music … acts like a kind of therapy and … there are a lot of studies showing that people who have listened to music and people who have listened to their favourite songs have recalled a lot of … lost memories and … succeeded to come back to life and have a normal life so there are several … points … very important points in listening to music and lets not forget about the young people who always relax … and have fun at a disco and … charge their batteries after a long … night while listening to music.“
Feedback
First of all a big ‘thank you’ to Corina for agreeing to be recorded. I’m sure she’d appreciate any comments you’d like to make on her talk.
Let’s see what feedback we can give her. Starting with the structure of her talk, in addition to a clear introduction and conclusion Corina did indeed use the rule of three and offered good examples to make each point. She also used signposting words excellently to guide the listener:
“…First of all it’s … important because it helps people to relax…”
”…Secondly, it’s very important … to keep your… tradition …”
“…And thirdly it’s very important because … music acts like a kind of therapy…”
What’s more her timing was perfect and she managed to do this just within the time limit. After the interview we spoke about Corina’s tendency to fill pauses with ‘errs’ and stretched syllables and we both agreed that this was an area for Corina to look at in future talks. Corina’s English was very accurate and she used some nice expressions such as the following:
“Music is … certainly of crucial importance for people all around the world”
”And… let’s not forget about the young people…”
Finally can you spot the mistakes in these extracts?
“…As I am concerned…”
“…Used to listen a lot of … Romanian folklore…”
Did you notice the mistakes?
Yes, not ‘as I’m concerned’ but ‘as far as I’m concerned’. And of course not ‘listen a lot’ but ‘listen to’. OK. That’s the end of this podcast. Come back soon for another episode of Splendid Speaking. Bye for now.
Answers to comprehension questions
1) Music is good to listen to after a hard day at work.
Ans: True
2) Corina finds it difficult to find examples of Romanian folklore to listen to.
Ans: False
3) Music offers therapeutic benefits.
Ans: True
4) Young people have problems listening to music because their batteries need charging.
Ans: False