IELTS Listening Parts 3 & 4: Lesson 4

Goal: show students how the second half of the test differs from the first, so they walk in expecting the right challenges.

You need: the board; the table and check-questions below.

1. (3 min) Recap the shape of the test and place Parts 3 & 4 in it. Put the table below on screen. Say the key facts: “Same 40 questions, still heard once — but now the topics are academic and the speakers are faster.”

   Part	Situation	Who's speaking	Typical tasks
   1	Everyday / social	Two people	Form / note / table completion
   2	Everyday / social	One person	Map / plan labelling, multiple choice
   3	Educational	Two to four people (a tutorial / discussion)	Matching, opinion multiple choice, completion
   4	Academic	One person (a lecture)	Note / sentence / flow-chart completion

2. (3 min) Name the two new demands. Part 3: “you now have to hold several speakers apart and catch whose opinion is whose.” Part 4: “one person, one long lecture, and — unlike every other part — no pause in the middle.”
3. (2 min) Reassure them what stays the same. The word-limit, spelling and number rules from Lesson 3 all still apply; Predict → Listen → Check still runs the whole thing.
4. (2 min) Check they've got it with the questions below.

Goal: extend Lesson 3's prediction habit to the note-form layout that dominates Part 4 — reading the outline before any audio and deciding what each gap needs. This stage has no audio.

You need: the board; Worksheet 1 (the Part 4 Antarctica notes) on screen.

1. (4 min) Teach reading the skeleton. Explain that Part 4 notes are a mini-outline — headings, sub-points, indents — and the layout tells you where the lecture has reached at any moment.

   Predict inside the note skeleton

   Read the headings and layout first. Part 4 notes are laid out as a mini-outline: headings, sub-points, indents. That shape tells you where you are in the lecture at any moment.

   Predict the word type for every gap, exactly as in Parts 1 & 2: a noun, a plural, a process step, a number, a name. Academic gaps are usually a single content word.

   Use the words around the gap. The sentence frame is printed; it must stay grammatical when your word drops in. If the frame says “a lack of ___”, you need a noun.

2. (2 min) Put Worksheet 1 on screen, do not play any audio. Tell them they are only going to predict.
3. (4 min) In pairs, they label every gap with the word type expected and, where they can, a likely word from the heading and frame around it.
4. (2 min) Take feedback. Any gap where pairs disagree is where the exam trips people; mark those to watch in Stage 3.

Goal: students do a real Part 4 once, straight through, then discover for themselves where the unbroken run and the abstract vocab cost them. Don't tell them the traps; let them catch them.

You need: Worksheet 1 (Antarctica, with audio), the board.

1. (1 min) Hand out Worksheet 1 (ideally the same one they predicted on in Stage 2). Say: “30 seconds: re-read your predictions.”
2. (5 min) Play the Part 4 audio once, start to finish, no pause. This is the point: they feel the unbroken run. Students fill in the notes on their own.
3. (3 min) Pairs compare, but change nothing. Just tick every gap where the two of them wrote something different.
4. (5 min) Find the traps together. On the board, write the 2–3 gaps most pairs split on. Ask: “Where did you fall behind, and did you get back on at the next heading or lose the whole stretch?”
5. (4 min) Replay only those lines. Let a student catch the signpost they missed: “Oh — she said ‘the key factor’ right before it.”
6. (2 min) Private note. Each student writes one sentence, just for themselves: “In the academic half, the thing most likely to cost me marks is ______.” Not collected; you return to it in Stage 8.

Goal: teach the core new Part 3 skill — holding two or three speakers apart and catching whose opinion each answer belongs to, including when a speaker is talked out of a view.

You need: the board; the signal table below; Worksheet 2 (the Marketing discussion, with audio).

1. (5 min) Teach the attribution signals. Show the table below and explain the idea: in Part 3 you are tracking positions, not just facts — who holds a view, and who agrees.

   Part 3: track who thinks what

   1. Two or three speakers, and the question is often an opinion. Don't just catch the words — catch whose view it is and whether the others agree.
   2. Listen for agreement and disagreement signals. “I'd go further than that” / “True, but…” / “I'm not so sure” / “Exactly” tell you whether a second speaker backs the first.
   3. Watch the change of mind. A speaker often floats one idea, then a partner talks them out of it. The answer is where they land, not where they start.
   4. Options run in the order you hear them; the speakers do not. Keep reading ahead so you know which item is coming next.
2. (3 min) Model the note trick. Show writing a speaker's initial (J / M) beside each option as they speak, and a small arrow when a second speaker agrees or objects.
3. (4 min) Play the opening of Worksheet 2 once. Students only mark who says what — no answers yet.
4. (5 min) Replay and unpick one exchange where a speaker changes their mind: the answer is where they land, not where they start.
5. (3 min) Feedback and CCQs below.

Goal: teach the two “choose a letter” formats that dominate Part 3 — opinion multiple choice and matching opinions to speakers — both resting on the “meaning not words” and “whose view” skills, then do one for real: listen to Worksheet 3 once and answer it.

You need: the board; Worksheet 3 (the Management-diploma Part 3, with audio) and Worksheet 4 (Box Telecom — its Q28–30 is a “which speaker” A–F match they meet again in Stage 7).

Part A · Opinion multiple choice · A / B / C

1. Carry over the Lesson 3 rule: the right option is a paraphrase of what you hear; the wrong options often echo the exact words spoken. Hearing a word is a weak signal, not proof.
2. Add the Part 3 twist: the question stem usually names a speaker (“What does Maria think about…”), so you must attribute the opinion, not just find it.
3. Eliminate, don't select, and shorten each option to a keyword before the audio so you can listen instead of re-read.

Part B · “Which speaker” / opinion matching · options A–G

1. Show the shape: a bank of opinions or features A–G, and a list of items (people, topics, parts) to label. Read every option first; there are more options than items.
2. Items run in the order you hear them; options do not — so you can't just work down the bank.
3. Cross an option off once placed (if the rubric says each is used once), and listen for the paraphrase, not the printed wording.
4. Don't get stuck: a lost item is one mark — leave it blank and rejoin, or freezing costs the next one too.

Part C · Do one for real

1. (1 min) Read and predict Worksheet 3. Shorten every option to a keyword before the audio, so you listen instead of re-read.
2. (5 min) Play Worksheet 3 once, start to finish, no stops. Students answer Q21–30 on their own — the multiple choice, the two-letter question, and the summary.
3. (3 min) Mark together against the key (Appendix D); replay any question the class split on and name why the right option won — the paraphrase — not just the letter.

Goal: turn the diagnostic experience into a method — ride the signposts, write in note-form to keep up, and rejoin at the next heading when you fall behind.

You need: the board; the signpost list from Stage 3; Worksheet 5 (the Recycling lecture — sentence + table completion) with audio.

1. (4 min) Teach note-form. Show the abbreviations box below: symbols and dropped vowels let you keep pace, but you expand to the full word before the transfer time.
2. (3 min) Re-teach riding the signposts (Stage 3 list): each one means an answer is seconds away; write when you hear it, not before.
3. (2 min) Teach the flow-chart / process variant: the steps are printed in order, so the layout itself keeps your place — follow it top to bottom.
4. (6 min) Play Worksheet 5 once, straight through. Students take notes with the method; no stops.
5. (3 min) Mark together and replay any gap the class split on, naming the signpost that flagged it.

NOTE-FORM (write fast, expand before transfer):
  →  leads to / causes        =  is / equals        +  and / also
  ↑ increase   ↓ decrease      ≈  about / roughly    b/c  because
  drop vowels:  govt  devt  dvlpmnt  yrs
  RIDE THE SIGNPOST → then write:
    "moving on to"  → new heading
    "the key point" → answer next
    "however / but" → idea just turned; don't write the first half
  FALL BEHIND? leave blank, REJOIN at the next heading (1 mark, not 5)

Goal: one full, uninterrupted Part 3 under real test conditions, applying attribution + “meaning not words”, then students mark it and work out which trap caught them.

You need: Worksheet 4 (Box Telecom — a full three-format Part 3) with audio; the check sheet in Appendix B.

1. (1 min) Hand out Worksheet 4. Give 30 seconds to read the options and predict.
2. (5 min) Play the audio once, start to finish, no stops: treat it exactly like the real test.
3. (4 min) Students mark their own against the key (or swap and mark a partner's).
4. (4 min) Everyone fills in the check sheet (Appendix B): score per question, how sure they were, and the one trap that caught them.
5. (3 min) Round up: pick 2–3 students to name the trap — wrong speaker, mentioned-then-rejected, fell behind — they'll now watch for.

Goal: pull the lesson together by getting the four takeaways from the students (ask them, don't tell them), then set homework that trains single-listen lecture awareness.

You need: the board; the private sentence each student wrote in Stage 3.

1. (3 min) Recap by asking, not telling. Draw these four out of the class and write each on the board as a student says it:
   1. The academic half is faster and more abstract — so predict harder, and rely on structure, not luck.
   2. In Part 3, track who thinks what, not just what is said: the answer is often an opinion, and whose it is.
   3. Part 4 has no pause in the middle: it plays straight through, so never stall — leave a blank and rejoin.
   4. Signpost words(“moving on to…”, “the key point…”) announce the next answer before it arrives.
2. (1 min) Call back to Stage 3. Say: “Look again at the sentence you wrote at the start. Is it still the thing most likely to cost you marks?” Ten seconds, silent, no need to share.
3. (1 min) Set the homework in the box below and check they know it's a single listen.