Listening: Notes That Turn a Proposal into a Decision
In a listening practice based on a two-minute radio interview about a cycling scheme in a Rioja town, candidates hear: 'The council is considering closing the central avenue to cars on Sunday mornings, but only after a six-month trial; around 600 residents have already signed a petition in favour.' The note-taking task asks for 'the proposal, the condition, and the number of supporters' in no more than 12 words. A candidate writes: 'The council will ban cars from the centre on Sundays; 6,000 people signed a petition.' The candidate also writes in the oral summary: 'The scheme is already decided.' The audio is played twice, with no pauses; the task is worth 4 marks. The teacher must mark both the notes and the oral summary.
1. Diagnose the errors in the written notes and explain why each matters for comprehension.
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There are three problems. First, certainty: will ban turns a proposal (is considering) into a decision. Second, condition: the six-month trial is omitted, so the plan sounds immediate. Third, number: 6,000 instead of 600 is a tenfold error that misrepresents the petition. The note is also 15 words, over the 12-word limit, so it would lose marks even if the content were accurate. The first two errors are not just language slips; they change what is being reported. The number error may be a decoding problem, but in note-taking it is still a factual error. The oral summary repeats the certainty error, so the teacher should treat them together.
2. Rewrite the notes within 12 words so that they capture the proposal, the condition and the number of supporters.
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Model: Council may ban Sunday central-avenue cars after six-month trial; 600 supporters. (11 words)
May ban preserves the proposal rather than a decision. After six-month trial supplies the condition. 600 corrects the figure. Supporters replaces people signed a petition to save words without losing the idea. The note fits the 12-word limit and answers all three required points. A useful check is to count words after drafting, including hyphenated compounds such as central-avenue and six-month.
3. How should the teacher respond to the oral-summary sentence 'The scheme is already decided'?
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Treat it as a comprehension error about epistemic status, not as a pronunciation problem. The audio says is considering and after a six-month trial; already decided reverses the stage of the proposal. Model a correction: The council is considering a Sunday car ban after a trial; it has not been implemented yet. Ask the candidate to identify the modal verb and the temporal phrase. In oral work, reward fluent delivery but require accurate stance: a confident wrong summary is more misleading than a hesitant accurate one. A short re-listen to the relevant clause would be more useful than simply repeating the whole audio.