The exam-style question
This is an ESL listening: note completion question, in the style of the English as a Second Language papers. Read it as you would in the exam, then compare your plan with the model.
You will hear a short talk (transcript below) about a school recycling scheme. Complete the notes by catching the specific details: day of collection, three items accepted, and where the bins are. This is our own practice material.
Talk: The Recycling Scheme (transcript)
Good morning, everyone. I want to tell you about our new recycling scheme, which starts next week. First, the important thing is the collection day.
It will be every Wednesday, not Monday, as the first newsletter wrongly said, but Wednesday. Please make a note of that. Now, what can you put in the bins?
Three things for now: paper, including old exercise books; clean plastic bottles, but please empty them first; and drinks cans, which must be rinsed. We are not yet able to take glass, so please keep glass at home for the moment. As for where the bins are: there are two, both blue, and you will find them by the main gate, near the bicycle racks, not by the canteen, where the ordinary rubbish bins are.
Finally, a small reward: the class that recycles the most each month will win an extra ten minutes of break on the last Friday. So, to recap: Wednesdays, blue bins by the main gate, paper, bottles and cans, and rinse them first. Thank you for listening.
Model response: ESL listening: note completion
Listening notes reward exact detail. Listen for where the speaker corrects an earlier fact, as a mark often hides there.
A trial lesson can compare your child's own answer with this model on ESL listening note completion.
Common errors we see
- Writing down a fact the speaker later corrects
- Falling for a distractor (a wrong option the speaker rules out)
- Being vague ('lots of things') when an exact detail is needed
- Not listening to the recap, where key facts are confirmed
- Missing an added condition ('rinse them first')
How this maps to the mark scheme
Examiners mark against assessment objectives. These are the skills the paper rewards.
For ESL listening: note completion, the objectives in play are listed below. The wording is summarised for Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language (0510) on our qualification page.
- Understand specific factual information from spoken material.
- Understand ideas, opinions and attitudes expressed by speakers.
Listen for the specific information first, then for opinions and attitudes, and write each answer briefly and accurately.
Other boards word their objectives differently, but the same skills earn the marks. Your board's official syllabus gives the exact weighting.
Where to go next
Learn the method in our guide to ESL listening: note completion, then try the ESL listening: note completion practice tasks. You can browse every annotated model response or see how we teach this in our English as a Second Language tuition.
When you have written your own answer, take it to a paid one-hour trial lesson and the teacher who would continue will mark it with you.