Listening comprehension

WE HAVE looked at the skill of listening, and you have been given a preview to the listening comprehension examination. This week, we will look at an actual listening comprehension passage and questions.

Your multiple-choice paper will look something like this:

SECTION A

Items 1-7

Instructions: You will hear an extract. It will be read twice. Listen carefully before answering the questions based on the extract.

Extract:

Cracked concrete blocks that soar skyward between elegant single-storey houses. Peeling art deco treasures squashed against brand-new smoked-glass shopping centres. Beautifully restored colonial mansions cheek by jowl with collapsing buildings whose ornate balconies hang on by mossy threads. Havana is a city of architectural ironies and paradoxes of harmony and dissonance.

The city’s eventful history can be read in its eclectic streets, from its beginnings as a humble settlement on the western shore of the great bay to 20th-century suburban sprawl.

Nowadays, Havana has a special poignancy as the years have taken their toll on its architectural riches. The beautiful but battered buildings have been shaped by the elements, and the lives of the habaneros who have lived out their history side by side with their glorious architectural heritage.

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. What is the MAIN idea in the extract?

(A) Havana has had an eventful history, which is reflected in its contrasting and varied architecture.

(B) Havana is by far the most beautiful city when compared to other architectural heritage.

(C) Havana faced natural disaster and its buildings are now collapsing and being held by mossy threads.

(D) Havana is a humble settlement on the western shore of the great bay. 2. What details support the main idea of the extract? I. “battered buildings”

II. “cracked concrete blocks”

III. “peeling art deco” (B) I and III only (C) II and III only (D) I, II, and III

3. Which of the following BEST expresses the purpose of the extract?

(A) To describe how beautiful the country of Havana is (B) To show how the buildings have been destroyed by natural disaster

(C) To compare Havana with other great cities

(D) To show how Havana’s history is reflected in its architecture

4. What is the literary device used in “The beautiful but battered buildings”?

(A) Alliteration

(B) Hyperbole

(C) Personification

(D) Simile

5. Which of the following literary devices are used in the extract?

I. Personification

II. Pun

III. Metaphor (A) I and II only (B) I and III only (C) II and III only (D) I, II, and III

6. Which of the following BEST captures the poet’s method of discourse?

(A) Narration of an event

(B) Description of a scene

(C) Provision of information

(D) Presentation of an argument

7. Which of the following comments BEST shows the phrase “peeling art deco treasures squashed against brand-new smoked-glass shopping centres?” (A) It provides information to the readers.

(B) It visually captures the scene of Havana and the historical effects on its architecture.

(C) It compares Havana to other cities.

(D) It narrates the story of Havana.

Please note that questions regarding the main idea, the main purpose, and literary devices are staple items. Ensure that you mentally prepare for those.

Now, we will look at a sample Module 2 essay.

MODULE 2 – PRACTICE QUESTION

A Tale of Two Tongues Miss Ida speaks only English to God Scholars cannot find fault in the diction of her graces and prayers; to her, it is the language of holy things; and the giver of commandments deserves a grammar of respectability as firm and as polished as his tablets of stone. But to fellow mortals she speaks Creole, the tongue of the markets and field, the language of labrish, su-su, proverbs and stories, hot-words, tracings and preckeh; it is the way to get hard-ears pickney to listen and facety men to keep off; it is the tongue of belly laughs and sweet body action. And to Miss Ida it is no bother To laugh and suffer in one language And worship in another. Earl McKenzie, A tale of Two Tongues.

In Cecile Gray, Bite In Stage 3,

Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1972, p. 18. In an ESSAY of no more than 500 words, discuss i. The differences in the language in stanzas one and two ii. The attitudes to English and Creole as revealed in the poem

iii. How a televised reading of this poem could enhance its meaning. Total 25 marks

Try to familiarise yourself with the categories and the features. This will be especially useful for the multiplechoice examination.

Next week, we will take a look at acing the Module 3 essay question. Trudi Morrison Reid teaches at The Queen’s School. Send comments to kerry-ann.hepburn@gleanerjm. com.