Listening practice
A Museum Audio Guide: B2 Listening
The story of a woven map, from a damp attic to a dimly lit room.
- Age
- Ages 13+
- Level
- B2
- Skill
- Listening
- Time
- 30 min
- Format
- Interactive
- Listening
- Monologue
The voice is your device's built-in speech synthesis, not a recording, so it sounds different on every phone, tablet and computer. Dialogues use two voices where the device has them. The transcript is always one tap away.
1. Before you listen
Read the question, then listen to the whole script once and choose the answer.
2. Listen
Play the whole script or one line at a time. Try the questions before you open the transcript.
Transcript
- Line 1 · Transcript hidden
- Line 2 · Transcript hidden
- Line 3 · Transcript hidden
- Line 4 · Transcript hidden
- Line 5 · Transcript hidden
- Line 6 · Transcript hidden
- Line 7 · Transcript hidden
3. Listen for detail
Listen again and answer the five questions.
4. Dictation
Play each sentence and type the missing words. Capital letters and punctuation don't matter.
- 1.It was made by a group of local weavers, most of them women, who worked on it for nearly six years.
- 2.Historians believe it was originally a for the mayor's daughter, although nobody has been able to prove this.
- 3.Each one marks a mill that was .
- 4.The map was found in an attic in nineteen seventy-four, by moths and damp.
- 5.Because the colours fade in daylight, the lighting in this room is .
5. Your turn to speak
Choose an object that matters to you or your family. Give a one-minute “audio guide” for it: what it is, where it came from and one detail people might not notice.
Printable worksheet
The tasks, the transcript and an answer key on a separate page.
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Name: ______________________ Date: ____________
A. Before you listen
What is this part of the audio guide mainly about?
- ☐ a) How to buy tickets for the tour
- ☐ b) The history of one object
- ☐ c) The rules for visitors in the museum
B. Listen for detail
- At first, the map looks like a rug.☐ a) True☐ b) False
- How long did the weavers work on the map?☐ a) Just over three years☐ b) Nearly six years☐ c) About two hundred years
- Historians have proved that the map was a wedding gift.☐ a) True☐ b) False
- What do the small blue squares show?☐ a) Bridges☐ b) The weavers' houses☐ c) Mills
- Why is the lighting in the room low?☐ a) It makes the room feel older☐ b) Daylight makes the colours fade☐ c) The museum wants to save energy
C. Dictation: write the missing words
- It was made by a group of local weavers, most of them women, who worked on it for nearly six years.
- Historians believe it was originally a for the mayor's daughter, although nobody has been able to prove this.
- Each one marks a mill that was .
- The map was found in an attic in nineteen seventy-four, by moths and damp.
- Because the colours fade in daylight, the lighting in this room is .
D. Speaking
Choose an object that matters to you or your family. Give a one-minute “audio guide” for it: what it is, where it came from and one detail people might not notice.
Transcript
Welcome to Room Six. The large object in front of you, in the glass case, is known as the Weavers' Map.
At first glance, it looks like an ordinary rug, but if you look more closely, you'll notice that the pattern is actually a map of the river valley as it was about two hundred years ago.
It was made by a group of local weavers, most of them women, who worked on it every winter for nearly six years. Historians believe it was originally a wedding gift for the mayor's daughter, although nobody has been able to prove this.
Notice the small blue squares along the riverbank. Each one marks a mill that was operating at the time. Today, only two of those buildings are still standing, and one of them is the museum you are in now.
The map was found in an attic in nineteen seventy-four, badly damaged by moths and damp. Restoring it took a team of specialists over three years.
Because the colours fade in daylight, the lighting in this room is kept deliberately low.
To continue the tour, walk through the archway on your left and press number seven on your keypad.
Key phrases are in bold.
Answer key
- A. b) The history of one object
- B. 1 a) True · 2 b) Nearly six years · 3 b) False · 4 c) Mills · 5 b) Daylight makes the colours fade
- C. 1 every winter · 2 wedding gift · 3 operating at the time · 4 badly damaged · 5 kept deliberately low