Listening for Details 

Generally speaking during the listening part of an exam you may need to listen for specific details these are usually numbers, names, addresses and dates. 

Telephone Numbers: 

Listening for telephone numbers is a common detail that can appear in a listening test such as the IELTS. In order for you to listen for telephone numbers correctly there are a few points that we should consider:

• 0 is pronounces as “oh” and your most unlikely to hear “zero”
• if there is a double number we say “double 7”
• We don’t say the numbers one by one we read them in groups of two or three

Addresses

When you are listening for an address, you should expect a number and a street name. Typically, the number will come before the name of the street, for example:

“14 Bond Street”

Types of different Roads

The name of the road will either be spelt out to you or will be a common English word that you should be able to spell. However you should be able to spell the different types of words that can be used to describe roads

• Road
• Lane
• Street
• Avenue

You should also be prepared to write down letters and numbers for post-codes. Please remember that in the UAE post-codes are not used so this may be something new for you e.g.

14 York Road,

London

NW12 34AH

The Spelling of Names

If you have to spell a name it will usually be spelt out for you letter by letter so you don’t need to worry. However some people can find this difficult and the letters which generally cause the most difficulties are as follows:

• a as in say
• e as in teeth
• i as in eye
• x as in ex-wife
• y as in why

Dates

There are a number of different ways in which to say and write down dates. The most common system is:

“The 25th of November”

However if you have to write down a date in  a listening exam and you have a word limit of one or two words you don’t need to write down of

Common Traps when listening for specific details

Quite often you will hear more than date/time/number and the one you need is not the first one you hear, To make it harder the speaker in the listening may even give you a piece of information and then go back to correct it, in this case make sure youwrite the second correct version

Practice Exercise

Look at these questions what kind of things should you be listening for? Discuss with a partner and then share your ideas with the class:

1. Type of van required:
2. Preferred make of van:
3. Date of collection:
4. Length of hire
5. Name: Justin ______________
6. Address: _____________ Street, Toronto
7. Telephone Number:
8. Driving Convictions:
9. Identification to be provided:
10. Card Number:

Listening for Specific Details Independent Ex 2 part-i-listening-van-hire Listening For Details Independent exercise 2