IELTS listening ( ITALIA BREAKS)

section one you will hear a man phone a travel company to book a holiday first you have some time to look at questions one to four you will see that there is an example that has been done for you this time just the conversation related to this will be played first good afternoon italy break my name is margaret how can i help you hello i would like to book a short break in italy hotel and combined flights anywhere in particular yes venice if possible holiday destination is venice so venice has been written in space will now start the test you must answer the questions while

listening

because you will not listen to the recording a second time listen carefully and answer questions one to four good afternoon italy break my name is margaret how can i help you hello i would like to book a short break in italy hotel and flights combined anywhere in particular yes venice if possible we have been mir I'm going through some of your brochures and I want to check if you have any specials ok let's h Take a look and see what we have ok ok I have the screen up can you give me some personal details sure first I can take your name please Please, and a contact phone number?

I'll give you my mobile number. I can't always remember. Yes, is here. Oh, seven, nine, eight, seven, double four, double one, nine, two, double four, double one, nine two, that's it and how many people are there for just two adults, okay. any particular price range its our 1st wedding anniversary and congratulations thank you so we wanted somewhere nice but not too expensive we would like it to be something to remember maybe in the mid price range how many nights are you planning on staying five nights just that? gives us plenty of time to sightsee and relax it's only five nights and what kind of hotel we initially thought of going five star but that might be too expensive so we've been looking at four star hotels which we've got quite a few in our brochure , but the one that I would recommend is the scotland hotel, it is a four star hotel and I know that there are rooms available because I have just made a reservation for another client there.

I didn't realize I don't. i know how i didnt see it its easy to miss them i have stayed there too as sometimes we have to go and see the hotels and out of all the ones i visited this was my favorite oh right before i hear the rest of the conversation has some time to look at questions five to ten now listen and answer questions five to ten what is the hotel like does it have a patio for breakfast has 50 rooms has just been renovated and is very stylish is it in the brochure? on page 63 oh yeah i can see it's right next to the train station hmm but what appeals to me the most is that the hotel is very convenient for all the water buses and the idea of ​​having a terrace with the room really I find it very appealing these are big pluses it's probably the closest The central hotel we have might think it would be a bit noisy as it's in the main commuter area and a tourist spot but from experience I can assure you that the hotel is very quiet.

Most of the rooms face the main street. Let me know when you would like to leave on the 17th of March and come back on the 22nd. Ok, I'll check again if there are places available. Two adults sharing the Scotland hotel. a special rate right now because it's low season for five nights let's see it's £716 for a double room and flights including airport tax but not sure each one not for two adults sharing that doesn't sound bad what reductions do you have at the moment , if you make the reservation before February 17, you get an additional reduction of 15 subject to availability.

That is a great saving. Yes, it makes the price very reasonable. Do you need travel insurance? I suppose. It's better that we have seven days coverage for both of us. It's £17.88 ok do you want to book today? I think we should, but can I check with my wife? Can you book the reservation for me? I can wait until 1:00 p.m. m. Alright. I'll get back to you right away just give you a reference for booking that's ok it's f a ps j m one five thanks I'll get back to you as soon as I can and definitely before 1pm. this is the end of section 1. you now have half a minute to check your answers now move on to section two section two you will listen to a talk by a councilor about plans for the development of a former industrial site first you have some time to look Questions 11 to 13.

Now listen carefully and answer questions 11 to 13. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, my name is councilor norma boyd and welcome to this presentation on the development of the old paper and gas mill that has been sitting idle for over there has been pressure for a decade I am on the council to use the land to build a training center and a small retail park, however local people have encouraged us to create an open area for the benefit of the community, providing a space very necessary for recreation and now I am pleased to announce that the plans for the creation of a park to be called park royal and for flats have already been approved I am also pleased e announce that we have secured sponsorship from local organizations more detailed plans of the developments are available on the council website details of which are in your packet in the meantime i would like to show you the plan here on the screen before you hear the rest of the chat you have some time to look at questions 14 to 20. now listen carefully and answer questions 14 to 20. if we start here at the bottom you can see the street next to the park where the main entrance to the park is to the left of the entrance in the lower left hand corner of the plan there will be a block of 40 studio apartments on the other side of the entrance there will be some workshops for local businesses there will also be another entrance here in the upper right leading to pear street here in the center of the park we will have an ornamental lake with trails radiating from north to south to the east and west of the different areas of the park in the upper right corner jus Next to the entrance to Pera street there will be a large sports area with two soccer fields and four tennis and volleyball courts right here next to the courts on the same side of the road will be an outdoor pool now in top left hand corner a walled flower garden is planned with a rockery and water feature with walkway seats and plenty of shady areas for summer next to this a sculpture garden is also planned now let's see Right here below the walled garden there will be a grassy amphitheater with a permanent covered stage for outdoor concerts.

We hope that local schools and universities will use this theater to showcase student work. in the lower left hand corner of the plan you can see that above the block of flats there will be a children's play area and directly to the right of this, just near the main entrance, there will be a wilderness area where more trees will be planted and in the In the middle an educational center will be built for use by local schools to encourage children to care for wildlife and care for trees and plants and finally in the lower right hand corner of the park there will be a cafeteria opening onto the pear. street and now for questions if anyone would like to ask me and my colleagues we are happy to oblige yes the lady in the front row if you could have your that is the end of section two now you have half a minute to review your answers now move on to the section 3. section 3 you will listen to a student asking about changing her course first you have some time to look at questions 21-25 now listen carefully and answer questions 21-25 hello my name is rosanna mclaren i am a little early but i have a appointment to see assistant clerk andy matthews at 10 am. m. hi i'm andy matthews nice to meet you nice to meet you my tutor advised me to come see you to change my course yes i got an email from your tutor david i came lemme call him here we are says tutee rosanna mclaren is on the Wednesday part time course and you want to switch to distance learning program you have a problem with the course itself oh no I love it I think the course is really worth the theory sessions once a week on Wednesdays from 10 am to .

They're also a lot of fun, but I find it very exhausting and too exhausting for my work on Thursdays and Fridays, you work the other four days of the week, yes, and some Saturdays, I see, so what do you want to do? like to switch to the program with the Early Learning Component dist instead of the Wednesday sessions. Yes, that is a possibility. I see that your tutor, Dr. Vine, has no problem with this, but you realize that you may have a different tutor. Yes, I am aware that it is a shame because he is a very good tutor, what should I do now first?

We only need you to complete this transfer form and the fee reduction claim form. Oh, I didn't realize it was cheaper. Oh yes, it's a thousand pounds less a year. it gets even better can i start the distance learning program from now on? and put it in the internal mail, that's fine, but I also need to discuss with you what the distance learning program entails to make sure you're all clear. I understand that I attend the weekend course once a month and that I can book. a bench in the fashion workshop at any other time that h I have a computer at home for distance learning, oh yes, I have the necessary equipment to make video calls over the Internet.

It's already the flexibility of distance learning over the Internet that is very useful and what makes it even more interesting is that I don't have to spend a lot of time traveling to and from the university on Wednesdays. I can adapt it to my own routine, since I can do the theory online from home whenever I want. The same goes for booking a tutorial. online using Skype yes it's amazing isn't it? It's in its infancy, but it's been running for a year now and it's doing pretty well. May I ask if it is possible to have a face to face tutorial at any time?

Well, there's no reason you can't do it before you hear the rest of the conversation. You have some time to look at questions 26-30. Now listen carefully and answer questions 26-30. What about the distance assessment? learning I assume it's the same As for the other program, let me see every month that you are expected to keep a written course journal and submit a seminar paper and at the end of the course there will be a written exam that will account for 30 percent of the overall rating. What about coursework? How much does the design portfolio represent that you should present at the end?

It represents 50 percent. I would point out just one thing and that is that in the distance learning programme, some tutors like to look at the design portfolio twice. every term to make sure you're on the right track but of course you can take it at any time to show your tutor and as part of the portfolio evaluation you have to present at least one fashion item in a fashion show in the end of the course is there anything else? no, that's it, thanks for all your help, no problem, hope everything works well for you now, that's the end of section three, now you have half a minute to check your answers, now move on to section four section four and you will hear a talk about the effect of architecture on people's moods, first you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.

Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40. My group has been doing a project on the importance of architecture in people's state of mind. lives and if it has any impact on people's lives in general, the main role I have played is in collecting data to find out what effect various buildings have on people's moods, that is, if ugly buildings make people unhappy and if beautiful buildings do the opposite, we originally thought of starting to measure people's reactions by using a questionnaire with about 40 questions that we were going to give out to people, including students at the university, but we were concerned that completing the questionnaire would take too long for people. fill in, so we gave up on the idea.

Then I asked several of the graduate students to come forward. One of them came up with the simple idea of ​​showing people pictures of vari. Instead of handing out the questionnaire and asking them to indicate how they felt on a scale of one to five about the images where one was unhappy and five were very happy, they would also be given the option of not saying buildings from different eras and styles. what they felt using the scale meant it would be much easier to record people's reactions. I decided to follow this advice, so the first stage was to collect a large number of images.

I used Google to print color images of views of houses and apartments. the blocks where people live and the different types of buildings where they work i started with about 30 or 40 and then whittled it down to 10 images media resources in the amery building on judd street branch of university helped me produce the imagesAt the end I exploded them to a4 size and we used color instead of black and white to make the details of the images clearer we made five sets of images and to protect them when handling we glued the images in a hard case Then using a machine to wrap them with plastic, we laminate the cards.

Five of us catered to different age groups. We went to a local school where we got permission to ask a group of teenagers between the ages of 11 and 18. we also asked a sample of the general public, including tourists from around the world, as they were leaving the tate modern in london what they thought our aim is to ask people of different age groups, namely 20 to 40 and over At age 50, what our group learned the most from the project was, firstly, the value of teamwork, and secondly, we found that we had to appoint a leader to keep us from falling apart in different directions, so it turned out to be an invaluable lesson for all of us in terms of the findings they were intriguing to us in the end the sample consisted of 311 respondents i initially thought people would not be interested in participating with the younger age group their reaction was very mixed it was clear that the younger group had no preference pattern at all, as they frequently did not react to images for the 20-40 age group.

All three groups are most likely to be favorably affected by the images, that is, they were most likely to rate the images a five with those 50 and over, and no one in this age group failed to say what their reaction was, which was one for all three. groups in total i have to say that around 71 people indicated that they had no reaction to an image our general conclusion is that we need to find out more about why people react the way they do perhaps giving them the opportunity to give reasons for their decisions i would like to finish there and give my teammates a chance to add anything I missed or take any questions or suggestions that's the end of section four now you have half a minute to review your answers that's the end of the

listening

test You now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the Listening Answer Sheet provided.