IELTS Listening Test Questions

Lucy: Welcome everyone, my name is Lucy Hanks and I’m the head teacher at Marigolds Nursery School. I’m going to tell you a little about the school, before handing you over to Jane, one of our fantastic teachers here at Marigolds, who will talk about the kinds of activities we have for our little learners.

The first thing you may have noticed (Q1)when you entered the school was all the brightly coloured artwork on the walls. Creativity is something we really want to nurture, so there’s a focus on art and crafts throughout our curriculum. Sometimes it means we make a bit of a mess, but the kids love it. In fact, the children even helped us redecorate this room. The walls used to be a plain cream colour, but as you can see, we now have bright murals of marigolds and sunflowers all over the walls. (Q2)You’ll notice that the kids’ handprints actually form the marigold petals.

We’re also big believers in getting outdoors and enjoying the fresh air. Weather permitting, we take the kids out to the nursery garden every day for a walk and a chance to explore nature. We have a gardener who looks after the plants and cuts the grass, but (Q3)the kids are involved in looking after our vegetable patch. This year we’re growing carrots and potatoes.

I also want to point out that we have a really close-knit and dedicated teaching staff. Most of our teachers have been here for at least 5 to 10 years. (Q4)Jane is our most junior staff member, and she’s been with us for three years already. So, that’s it for me, but I’ll be here to answer any questions once Jane’s finished.

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Jane: Hi everyone, I’m Jane, welcome to Marigolds. As Miss Hanks already mentioned, we love to get the kids involved in arts and crafts, so we’ve created an arts and crafts learning area where we have all manner of paints, paintbrushes and crayons. All of our supplies are kid safe and washable, so don’t worry, you won’t need to get horrible stains out of their clothes each day! (Q5)In fact, our paints and crayons are specially designed for infants, so you can even eat them without any problem, although I wouldn’t recommend it as they’re not very tasty!

Obviously developing our kids' language skills is really important. That’s why we have the language development area. We work on verbal and aural skills through games and interactive activities. One of our (Q6)language specialists is quite a skilled guitarist and many of the kids’ favourite activity is singing along as he plays his guitar.

Another activity which we believe is important to the kids’ development is drama. We play games that involve mirroring movements, and exploring different characters and situations. We even put on a show at the end of the year with all the preschool kids who want to be involved. (Q7)We do need parents’ help with this, as we can’t prepare all the costumes for the show without your participation.

With all the activities, the kids need a rest from time to time, so we have a specially designed rest area. As you can see (Q8)we have brand new cots and mattresses. We’ve also just installed a dimmer switch so we can more easily control how dark the room is.

I should also tell you about our outdoor activities. We spend a lot of time outside in the nursery garden, where the kids love to explore and learn about nature. Even in winter, we regularly play outdoor games, do simple gardening activities and go on nature exploration walks. (Q9)So please make sure you send the kids to school with a nice warm coat, hat and gloves if it’s a cold day.

Another important part of the day is Free Play. The kids have a chance to explore different areas of the nursery on their own while the teachers watch over them and help when necessary. They can visit the arts and crafts space, go in the garden, (Q10)or spend time in Book Corner, where we have a big library of fun picture books, ideal for preschoolers. At Marigolds we want to make sure that your kids enjoy being at school.