SECTION 2

You are going to hear some announcements made to a group of people who are planning a trip to Greece.

Tour organiser: Good morning everyone. I’m getting very excited about this trip to Greece, and I’m sure you are too. As you know, we didn’t have all the details at our last meeting, but I can give them to you now.

We’ll leave London Gatwick Airport on British Airways next Wednesday. Please be sure to be at the airport by 6.30. I know’ it’s early, but our departure time is 8.25 AM. We’re quite a large group, and we don’t want to have any hassles. Please be sure to have all your travel documents ready. We’ll arrive in Athens at 2.25 in the afternoon, and there’ll be a vehicle there to meet us. It’ll be a full sized coach so everyone can travel together.

We’ll spend three full days in our hotel in Athens, although we’re only being charged for two nights’ accommodation, which is good news. The second day we’ll go to the National Archaeological Museum to see the enormous collection of ancient Greek works of art, antiques, statues – a brilliant display. We’ll eat out at a typical Greek restaurant on Thursday night. It’s going to be a very busy time in Athens! Friday morning and afternoon we’ll visit historic sites, but we have nothing planned for the rest of the day.

On Saturday we’re off to the islands, the Greek islands of ancient myth and modern romance. Now, the big news! At first we thought we’d take the ferry, but we’ve been very lucky to secure a sailing boat which is big enough for all of us. I’m really excited about this part of the trip, because we’ll see the islands to the best advantage, and we’ll be able to cruise around and sleep on board. We’ll get off at different islands and for one part of the trip we’ll have people playing Greek traditional music actually on board with us. Now I’ll pass out a brochure with all the details. Narrator: Now look at questions 16 to 18. As the talk continues answer questions 16 to 18.

Tour organiser: A lot of work has gone into organising this tour, and I’d like to thank in particular the travel agent who got us a really good deal and the people at the British Museum who offered us such good advice. Trips like this only happen because of the hard work of really expert people.

As you know, we have planned a gathering for when we return. I have a list of things which the committee would like you to bring to the party. They are: your pictures and something to eat for everyone to share. You are almost bound to have people ask what we have in common, and why we are travelling as a group. I suppose the answer is that we are interested in learning about old societies and vanished cultures, and we all enjoy travelling. Of course, we enjoy fine food too, but that’s not as important!

Narrator: Now look at questions 19 and 20. As the talk continues answer questions 19 and 20.

Tour organiser: I nearly forgot the last piece of information. You will see there are labels which I have passed around for you to put on all your luggage. Could you fill them in, please? On the top line please write “Greek tour” and on the lower line, write, in block letters, I mean upper case, the letters A A and the number 3 – that’s AA3.

We need to have these labels clearly displayed to help the baggage handlers keep our luggage together on the different parts of our trip, so please don’t take them off.

SECTION 3

You are going to hear Dr Joanne Robinson, the course director of a Language Learning Center, answering questions from reporters from the student newspaper. First look at questions 21 to 26. As you listen to the first part of the talk, answer questions 21 to 26. Write no more than three words or numbers for each answer.

Course Director Welcome to the Language Learning Center. I’m Joanne Robinson. You must be the reporters from The Examiner. Please come in and sit down.

Cheryl: Hello Dr Robinson. Yes, we’re from The Examiner. I’m Cheryl Perkins and this is Don Klim. May I start with a question? Did this college really start with Brazilian students?

Course Director It did. The language Learning Center was founded in 1985 to look after a group of students from Brazil who wanted to study here. Those twenty students soon grew to 60, and, as you can imagine, we had severe accommodation problems.

Don: Somebody said you were in the old amenities block, right near the engineering school.

Course Director: They have a good memory! Yes, we were there, because the university hadn’t believed we would expand so quickly. The problem wasn’t solved until we moved into these new premises in Bancroft House in 1987.

Don: When did you start taking students from other countries?

Course Director: About 1990. We now have students from 13 different countries enrolled, and we expect a large group from Turkey next month.

Cheryl: Yes, we’ve noticed a lot more advertisements for Turkish restaurants in our advertising section. Course Director: Well, 40% of our students come from Turkey, by far the largest single national group, and I believe there’s been an influx to the rest of the university. There are a lot of Turkish students studying hospitality.

Cheryl: Do you offer anything special to the students? Course Director: Yes, we do. There are several things which make us rather different from other language schools. English is certainly not restricted to English for academic purposes here! Sometimes we have extra classes for students who have particular courses in mind, and we have just said goodbye to a group of thirty Indonesian students who were preparing for a university course in agriculture. They came to us for English for farming, and they were with us for a long time. We miss them!

Cheryl: How long do students usually stay at the Language Learning Center?

Course Director: It varies, so I’ll talk about the average. Most of our courses last for five weeks, but to make any real progress a student needs to be here for at least three terms, that’s fifteen weeks. The students do better if they have a little time to settle in at the beginning of the course, and we offer an orientation course that lasts a week. Most students take it. It helps them to settle down, and it gives us plenty of time to test them and place them at the right level.

Don: How many people are in each class?

Course Director: We sometimes go up to 18, but our average class size is 14 students, and some classes have as few as seven participants. It depends on the needs of the group.

Cheryl: You were saying that you miss your students when they go. How do you attract students? I mean, how do they hear about the language Learning Center in the first place?

Course Director: We’re included in the university advertising and marketing, and we have our own website. The thing which works best for us, though, is word of mouth. Students who leave us often send us their friends. In fact, a student who arrived today was carrying a photograph for me of a former student and his baby!

Cheryl: It sounds like a nice place to be!

Course Director: It is! A lot of our students make lasting friendships while they’re here.

Narrator: Now look at questions 27 to 31. As the talk continues, answer questions 27 to 31.

Cheryl: Making friends with other students sounds special enough! I’d like to emphasise that in the student newspaper.

Course Director: We do try to get our students to be part of the wider university.

Don: How do you do that? Do you encourage them to join the Sports Center, for instance?

Course Director: Indeed we do! The Sports Center is always looking for active participants, particularly in soccer. Oh, and something else. You might like to mention that we don’t teach just English here. I mean, we’re a language center, not an English language center. You may learn Spanish, Mandarin, and Russian here, and we can sometimes offer other languages. This means we can have some students who are native speakers of those languages as conversation partners for English-speaking students. Cheryl: Who can do those courses?

Course Director At this time, any native speaker of English.

Cheryl: What about the people who are learning English? Can they do a non-English language course? Course Director At this time, only if they’ve almost finished their English language course. You see, we try very hard to involve students who are native speakers of English as conversation leaders and we encourage our students to join groups on the campus. For instance, if they enjoy music, there is an active jazz group available to everyone, and that’s a lot of fun. On the other hand, elementary students can’t go to the drama group, their English just isn’t ready for that sort of activity, but the university choir welcomes all the singers it can find. They often do large productions that need a lot of voices.

Cheryl: I imagine the special conversation groups are open to all your students …

Course Director: I wish they were. I’m sorry to say they’re a special service we provide for elementary students only. Is there anything else I can tell you? (pause) I’d be really pleased if you could write about the courses we offer in foreign languages.

Cheryl: I think our readers would be very interested in that. Thank you for your time. Dr Robinson.

Don: Yes, thank you very much.

Course Director: Goodbye. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about the center. It’s always good to let the rest of the students at the university know what goes on in our classrooms, and outside them! After all, many of our students leave us and then study for degrees in various disciplines on this campus. 

SECTION 4

Speaker Postgraduates are about as easy to define as catching steam in a bucket Courses can be vocational, for training, as research, as a preparation for research, or a combination of these. Also you can choose between full-time and part-time. Increasingly, the approach to postgraduate study is becoming modular. The vast majority of postgraduates are doing short, taught courses, many of which provide specific vocational training. Indeed, there has been a 400% increase in postgraduate numbers in Britain over the past 20 years. Current figures stand at just under 400,000.

People undertake postgraduate study for many reasons. These may be academic (intellectual challenge, development of knowledge), vocational (training for a specific career goal) or only vague (drifting into further study). It is essential that you determine the reasons you want to become a postgraduate. If you have clear goals and reasons for studying, this will enhance your learning experience and help you to remain focused and motivated throughout your course.

Where you study should be based on much more than the course you want to do. For some courses you are likely to be there for several years, and it is important that you are happy living there. Check also what type of accommodation is available and whether the institution provides any housing specifically for postgraduates.

Choosing an institution and department is a difficult process. To determine quality, do not rely on the reputation of an institution, but find out what ratings are from the most recent assessment exercises. Find out about the staff, their reputation, competence, enthusiasm and friendliness. Visit the department if possible and talk to existing postgraduates about their experience, satisfaction, comments and complaints. Be very careful to check how they feel about their supervisors.

Also, check what facilities are available, both at an institutional level (for example libraries, laboratory and computing facilities) and in the department (for example study room, desk, photocopying, secretarial support etc.). Everyone will have their own priorities here: I am always anxious to check the computer support available, and regard it as slightly more important than library access. Your working environment and the support available to you plays an essential part in making your work as a postgraduate a positive experience.

Life as a postgraduate can be very different to your other experiences of education. Things that can distinguish your experience are the level of study» independence of working, intensity of the course, the demands on your time, and often the fact that you are older than the majority of the students.

These factors can contribute to making you feel isolated. However, there are several ways you can make sure that this is either short-lived or does not happen at all.

Many student unions have postgraduate societies that organise social events and may also provide representation for postgraduates to both the student union and the institution. Departments can also help to create a sense of identity and community, and often have discussion groups available. Don’t be afraid to talk to staff about any difficulties you might be having. Of course universities provide counselling services but we have found that the best advice comes from talking to other postgraduates who may have faced similar difficulties.

Narrator: Look at questions 38 to 40. Write no more than three words or numbers for each answer. Speaker: Financial planning is essential, since the government excludes postgraduates from student loans, and it can be difficult to maintain your student status with banks. This has implications for free banking and overdraft facilities. Do not underestimate your living costs, including food, accommodation and travel, and be careful not to budget for everything except a social life.

Funding a course is one of the most challenging things people face when considering postgraduate study. Most postgraduate students are self-financing. They pay (often very large) fees to the institution and receive no maintenance income to support their study. Make sure you know exactly what your costs will be – institutions often hide extra fees like laboratory costs behind tire headline fee rate advertised.

Funding can come from various sources. Research councils, charities, trust funds, institutional scholarships, local education authorities and professional bodies and organisations all offer

various levels of funding. As I said before, the government excludes postgraduates from student loans, so it is essential you look to other sources. Career development loans are available from high street banks. The best advice on funding is to be proactive, persistent and patient.

The postgraduate community in Britain is multinational, has a wide range of experience of life and work and an exciting mix of goals, both career and academic. Being a postgraduate student should be a productive and fulfilling thing to do, and you will become part of a diverse and motivated social group.