Listening Texts
my stories.” He went on to say that his books were “intended to revive … fast-disappearing … aspects of Jamaican life, … – the infinite bliss of bathing in rivers, the fun of handling animals … hearing the screech of an owl’s voice.” He also said, “I believe one of the reasons I was pointed in the direction of writing lies in the fact that when I was young, I was too shy to speak and even when I spoke, I did it poorly.” C. Everard Palmer won several awards for his
Unit 11 Speaking and listening (page 127) Tell students they are going to hear an item from a radio programme. Read the item aloud then, before reading it a second time, ask students to make notes in answer to the questions on page 127. A recent study looked at the use of electronic books in the classroom. 20 schools took part in the project and over 400 children shared their views. The boys in the study seemed to prefer e-books and their reading ability improved more with those than with real books. Students said the flexibility of e-books gave them more confidence to read. The text can be enlarged and the screen colour can be changed. On the other hand, it appeared that readers of print books remember more of what they have read than readers of e-books do. Also it’s easier to flip back to check a picture or re-read a paragraph. Print books are definitely better for reading in bed because the blue light from the screen makes it harder to fall asleep. Here’s what one of the teachers said: “E-books enable us to create a bigger library of books for students to choose from. However, a child reading on a tablet or phone can easily be distracted and start playing games or socialising.’’
writing. He died in Canada in 2013. Unit 10 Assessment (page 122)
Tell students they are going to hear a radio news report. Read the item aloud then, before reading it a second time, ask students to make notes in answer to the questions on page 122. At 3.15 this afternoon traffic was brought to a halt in George Street by Josh Mahon, an eleven-year-old boy, and his cow. It seems that the cow was confused by the traffic and stopped in the middle of the road. The situation deteriorated when the cars started hooting their horns. The frightened cow sat down and refused to move. After 15 minutes, the traffic queue stretched back 2 kilometres. People clustered around the cow, shouting and further terrifying the poor creature while the boy pleaded with them to stop. Finally, at 3.45, three police officers arrived. After consulting Josh, they appealed for calm, ordering the drivers back into their cars and saying they would arrest anyone who hooted their horn. Silence fell and after a few minutes the cow calmly got to its feet and completed its journey to the other side of the road. Josh told our reporter that he and the cow were on their way home from school when he decided to take a detour through town to visit his grandmother. He didn’t explain why he had taken his cow to school but he admitted that taking it into heavy traffic had been a mistake.
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