This listening practice is about the current world issue of plastic straws and how they affect the environment. This is the type of listening you are likely to hear in section 4 of the listening test. Furthermore, the ideas are useful to learn for your writing and speaking test. It is also something I feel very strongly about. We all know about the problems of plastic straws, but how many of us are choosing not to use them? Hopefully this listening practice will remind us all about the importance of not using such pollutants.
In the IELTS listening test, you can listen only once. For this lesson, read the questions and make a note of keywords before you listen to the audio. You will always have time to do this in the real test.
Listening Practice Lesson for IELTS
Listening Questions 1- 6
Complete the sentences with words from the recording. Use no more than two words and/or a number.
- Plastic straws have a limited ……………… owing to their predominantly single usage.
- These straws do not …………….. and can pollute the environment for hundreds of years.
- ……………….. straws are thought to be used annually in the UK.
- Kasey Turner found ………… straws during her 20-minute ………………
- One plastic straw was even found in the airway of a …………………
- Understanding the relationship between what we do and the negative ……………. can be a motivation for ………..
Recording
Don’t forget that in the test, you can listen only once and you won’t be able to pause the recording.
Source: This article was adapted from 1millionwomen.com.au and also bbc.co.uk/news
ANSWERS & TRANSCRIPT
Please note, the transcript is something I usually offer with all listening lessons as a way to check your answers and improve your pronunciation by listening and repeating on your own. Transcripts are not given with questions and you won’t be given them in your test.
Click to open:
ANSWERS
- LIFESPAN
- Plastic straws have a limited LIFESPAN owing to their predominantly single usage.
- BIODEGRADE / BREAK DOWN
- These straws do not Biodegrade and can pollute the environment for hundreds of years.
- Both options are correct. However, you must choose one only as
- You cannot have the answer “break down”. Biodegrade and break down are the same.
- 8.5 BILLION
- 8.5 BILLION straws are thought to be used annually in the UK.
- 319 SNORKEL
- Kasey Turner found 319 straws during her 20-minute SNORKEL.
- It is not necessary to use punctuation to separate the number and word. However, if you do use punctuation, your answer would still be marked correct.
- If you wrote “319 and SNORKEL”, it would be wrong because the word “and” is an extra word that is not given for the answer.
- SEA TURTLE
- One plastic straw was even found in the airway of a SEA TURTLE.
- If you wrote only “turtle”, the answer would be wrong.
- OUTCOMES CHANGE
- Understanding the relationship between what we do and the negative OUTCOMES can be a motivation for CHANGE.
TRANSCRIPT
Use this to review the answers and improve your pronunciation.
TRANSCRIPT: Single use plastic is a particularly nasty form of plastic. These items have a shockingly short lifespannormally used once and then discarded to landfill. Like other plastics they never Biodegrade and take hundreds of years to break down. Plastic straws are one such single use item and are ending up in our oceans by the thousands. The Marine Conservation Society estimated that the UK uses 8.5 billion straws every year.
Avid scuba diver Kasey Turner was snorkelling after work recently at a popular dive site in Manly Australia. In the area, she found 319 straws on a single 20 minute snorkel. It can be hard to see how using one measly plastic straw is going to cause huge amounts of damage to the environment but let me put it into context for you. Recently a team of scientists in Costa Rica came across an endangered species of sea turtle with what they thought was a parasitic worm blocking its airway. They realised it was actually a plastic straw. Most people just do not realise that the majority of plastic straws are not recycled.
The simplest way you can eradicate straws from your life is to just stop using them at home. It’s as easy as that. Making a connection between our actions and the often devastating outcomes they can have on the environment acts as a catalyst for change.
.
Raising Awareness of Plastic Straws
If you would like to learn about about the effects of plastic straws, watch the video footage of the endangered sea turtle mentioned above. Click here: Effect of Straws on a Sea Turtle. Warning: The video is distressing to watch – be warned!!
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU