Listening Practice Test! Learn English through Story

0:00 Hello I'm Emma!

0:01 Today I have an English listening practice

0:04 for you so that you can test your English

0:07 listening skills and learn some new vocabulary

0:10 relating to travelling and making a long journey.

0:14 You'll get to listen to Kat, one of our incredible coaches inside the Hey Lady!

0:20 Community as she explains why she's on a boat and where she's going.

0:25 She uses some amazing idioms and phrases and expressions that you

0:30 can use when you're talking about a trip that you're planning.

0:34 You'll practise your English listening skills in two ways.

0:38 First, you'll be listening for specific information and then you'll be

0:44 listening for gist to see if you understood the general meaning.

0:47 We have made you a PDF worksheet that you can

0:51 download for free and use it to complete this lesson.

0:54 There's space for you to write your answers

0:56 plus the word list with definitions and examples.

1:01 And we've included some extra practice activities to help you use the new words

1:05 that you learn through this lesson and try

1:08 to embed them in your own active vocabulary.

1:11 So pause the video and go get that workbook now or just grab

1:15 a pen and paper so that you can record your answers as you go.

1:19 Let me explain how this listening practice will work.

1:23 As you listen to Kat talking about her Transatlantic adventure,

1:27 you'll see the transcript up here next to her on the screen.

1:31 But there will be some words and phrases that are missing.

1:36 This is your first task today to fill

1:39 in the gaps with the missing words that you hear.

1:42 I'll be back at the end of this video

1:44 to go through the correct answers with you.

1:47 Ready?

1:47 Oh make sure you turn off the subtitles

1:50 before you start otherwise you'll see the answers.

1:57 Hey everyone, it's me Kat.

2:00 I was trying to do an Instagram live but turns

2:03 out I don't have any internet so I'm recording

2:06 this and then I'll post it later on the blog

2:08 but yeah today's March 15th and you won't guess where I am.

2:16 It's beautiful, I'm actually on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

2:22 We left New York a few days ago and we're

2:25 going to arrive in the UK later this week.

2:28 It's really exciting and I can't believe that we actually are doing this.

2:34 I never would have expected that I would take, like, a Transatlantic voyage.

2:40 I'm a little bit afraid.

2:42 So I want to share a little bit about how we planned it

2:46 and how we made our decision and also what we're going to do next.

2:51 So basically, as soon as the borders opened in Europe,

2:56 we started looking for a way to get there.

3:00 As some of you know, my partner, he doesn't prefer flying,

3:04 so he has been taking boats around the world.

3:06 And he was trying to convince me to do

3:09 this Transatlantic crossing with him and I was super hesitant.

3:13 You have a lot of open water.

3:14 I was a little bit afraid of getting seasick.

3:18 Yeah, I wasn't really keen on it.

3:20 But he convinced me and we made a compromise by doing a cruise ship,

3:25 which is again something I never would have thought to do.

3:28 But we looked online and we found an amazing promotion.

3:33 It was all inclusive,

3:34 so the price included your food, accommodation, entertainment.

3:39 And also, obviously, the travel, your passage.

3:43 So we said, okay, let's do it.

3:45 And, yeah, we left.

3:48 And, now we're almost there.

3:51 So, basically, to plan for it, I did a lot of research online.

3:56 I looked at forums from other passengers

4:00 who have completed this journey, I suppose.

4:05 They gave a lot of advice.

4:06 And I learned a lot, actually.

4:08 For example, I learned that you can just get these seasickness

4:12 pills that help you not feel dizzy despite the waves.

4:16 And we've had some pretty big waves.

4:18 I'll post a video about that later.

4:20 And the pills worked like a charm.

4:22 I didn't feel sick at all.

4:23 Just a little bit tired the first few days.

4:26 I slept a lot, actually.

4:28 I think there's something about, like,

4:30 the rocking motion that made me feel sleepy.

4:34 Yeah.

4:34 What about you?

4:35 What do you do to research before you go on a trip?

4:39 I really think that reviews are the best because it gives you

4:42 like a firsthand experience and you know you can trust what they say.

4:47 So yeah, it's been really fun.

4:49 You know, despite that there's no internet

4:52 and that you're kind of stuck on this ship.

4:54 They have a lot of onboard entertainment like music and dancing.

4:58 I even had to get a new suitcase to pack

5:02 so many formal dresses because there's a dress code at dinner,

5:06 which is really crazy because I'm so used to backpacking and roughing it.

5:10 So I feel like I've gone from like one style of travelling to another.

5:17 But despite all of this, I can't wait to be on solid ground again.

5:22 We're landing in the UK and then we get to start our journey through Europe,

5:28 which we've been looking forward to for several years now.

5:32 We've pre-booked a few places.

5:36 We've also booked some train tickets in advance

5:39 because it helps you to save on money.

5:42 As long as you can exchange it later

5:44 in case your plans change and they do change, right?

5:48 I think that we might have to play some of it by ear.

5:52 And then lastly, when it comes

5:54 to travel advice when you're planning your journey,

5:57 I would say the most important thing is to be flexible and open-minded.

6:01 It just makes the whole experience better because when things go wrong

6:06 or when they don't go according to plan as they inevitably do,

6:11 it means that you can take it in stride and just move

6:14 on to the next step and see it as a different adventure.

6:18 So, yeah.

6:20 Anyway, it's easy for me to say as I'm safe on this ship.

6:24 But I know when we land in a few days,

6:26 we will disembark and then a new adventure will begin.

6:31 So I'm really excited and I can't wait

6:33 to post more about it and I'll see everybody soon.

6:36 Okay, till next time.

6:38 Bye.

6:39 How did you go?

6:41 I'll give you the correct answers in a minute

6:43 but now I want to test how well you understood Kat.

6:47 So this is the second part to your listening practice today.

6:51 We'll practise listening for gist, listening for the general meaning to make

6:56 sure that you've understood the information accurately.

7:00 If you'd like to go back and listen

7:02 one more time before you answer the comprehension questions,

7:06 you can go to this timestamp but if you're ready

7:10 I have four questions that will appear up on screen

7:14 now and you'll need to pause after each question to write

7:18 down your answer before moving on to the next one.

7:21 Once you've written down your answers,

7:23 I'll share all of the correct answers with you at the end

7:26 so that you can check how you did, all right?

7:29 At first, how did Kat feel about sailing across the ocean?

7:39 Was Kat unhappy about the cost of the cruise ship?

7:43 Why or why not?

7:51 What useful piece of advice did Kat find on the forum?

8:03 What advice does Kat share at the end of her video?

8:15 Okay well done for completing both

8:18 of those activities to practise your listening skills.

8:21 Are you ready to hear the answers?

8:23 Make sure you keep track of your results so

8:25 you can share them down in the comments below.

8:29 I would take like a Transatlantic voyage as soon

8:34 as the borders opened in Europe and he

8:37 was trying to convince me to do and we made a compromise by doing a cruise ship.

8:44 And we found an amazing promotion.

8:47 It was all inclusive, so, obviously, the travel, your passage.

8:53 I looked at forums from other passengers.

8:57 And the pills worked like a charm.

8:59 I didn't feel sick at all, just a little bit.

9:01 I think there's something about, like,

9:03 the rocking motion that made me feel sleepy.

9:06 Because it gives you, like a first hand experience,

9:09 and you know you can trust what they say.

9:12 Case to pack so many formal dresses because there's a dress code at dinner.

9:17 Crazy because I'm so used to backpacking and roughing it.

9:21 We've pre-booked a few places.

9:25 We've also booked some train tickets in advance because.

9:30 As long as you can exchange it later in case.

9:33 I think that we might have to play some of it by ear.

9:37 I would say the most important thing is to be flexible and open minded.

9:41 And they don't go according to plan as they inevitably do.

9:44 Days we will disembark and then a new adventure will begin.

9:50 And now the comprehension answers.

9:53 Let's see how you did.

10:00 Kat said it was exciting but she couldn't believe she was doing it.

10:06 She never thought that she'd take a cruise across the Atlantic.

10:10 She actually felt a bit afraid.

10:17 No, Kat was happy about the cost of the cruise.

10:21 They found a promotion online so she must have

10:24 got a good price and because it was all inclusive,

10:29 it included the food, accommodation,

10:32 entertainment and also the passage across the ocean.

10:40 On the forums, Kat learned about seasickness

10:43 pills that helped her to avoid feeling sick.

10:52 Kat's advice when travelling is to be

10:55 flexible because things don't always go to plan.

10:58 So how did you go?

11:00 Which words were new or difficult for you to hear?

11:04 I want you to let me know down in the comments.

11:07 If you haven't already downloaded the workbook,

11:10 you'll find the definitions and activities to help you keep

11:14 practising those new words you picked up during today's lesson.

11:18 The link to get it is just down in the description below.

11:21 And if you want to keep listening

11:23 to Kat talking about her adventures travelling,

11:26 I've actually got another video for you,

11:29 one that I shared over on the mmmEnglish YouTube

11:33 channel and you'll see it on the very next screen.

11:36 Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you soon!