Listening: The Doctor's Instructions
During a listening task, students hear a short dialogue. A girl tells the doctor she has had a sore throat for four days, a headache since yesterday, and a temperature of 38.5. The doctor says she should stay home for two days, drink tea, and take the medicine three times a day after meals. He adds that she should not go to sport this week, and that if the fever is still there on Friday she must come back. The girl asks whether she can go to a friend's party on Saturday. The doctor says: 'Wenn es Ihnen bis Freitag besser geht, ja - aber nur, wenn kein Fieber mehr da ist.' The recording is played twice.
1. A question asks: 'What must the girl do if she still has a fever on Friday?' Explain how to answer without confusing it with the party question.
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Answer: she must return to the doctor.
The trap is that two conditions are mentioned close together. Separate them:
- Fever on Friday → come back to the practice. This is a must (muss).
- Party on Saturday → allowed only if she feels better by Friday AND has no fever. This is a may (kann), conditional.
So the fever is the trigger for both outcomes: it sends her back to the doctor and it cancels the party. A weak answer says 'she can't go to the party', which is true but does not answer the question asked. The mark comes from identifying the obligation, not the permission.
2. List the medical instructions the doctor gives, and say which one is easiest to miss when listening.
Read the worked answer
Instructions:
- Stay at home for two days.
- Drink tea.
- Take the medicine three times a day, after meals.
- No sport this week.
- Return on Friday if the fever persists.
Easiest to miss: the timing detail 'nach den Mahlzeiten' (after meals) and the number 'dreimal täglich'. Numbers and frequency words are spoken quickly and are often the actual mark. Also easy to miss is 'diese Woche' with sport - students hear 'no sport' but lose the duration.
Practical method: on the second playing, listen only for numbers and time phrases, not for general meaning.
3. The girl's symptoms are given as four days, one day, and 38.5. What does this pattern suggest, and how should it shape the answer to 'How long has she been ill?'
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The three figures describe different things, not one duration:
- Four days - sore throat (the longest-standing symptom).
- Since yesterday - headache.
- 38.5 - temperature, a measurement, not a duration.
So 'how long has she been ill?' is best answered 'about four days', with the sore throat as the first symptom. Answering '38.5 days' or 'one day' shows the figures were heard but not sorted.
This is the standard listening judgement: match each number to what it measures before writing. A quick note layout - throat = 4 days / head = since yesterday / temp = 38.5 - prevents the mix-up.