ESL Birthday Listening

There are a range of listening task for you to do on this ESL birthday listening page. You can listen to the recordings and do the exercises to help you get experience of understanding spoken English and spoken birthday vocabulary.

There are four listening tasks for you to do on this page. In each of them there is a recording of birthday vocabulary being used, and you need to listen to this and try to understand it. The recordings are of a native English speaker so you can hear the correct pronunciation for the words used. If you are not sure of how any of the birthday words should sound that are used on this ESL birthday listening page you can go to the ESL birthday vocabulary page that has a recording of all the words being spoken.

In each of the exercises on this page you can listen to the recordings as many times as you need to, but it is good if you can understand them after just listening once or twice. The exercises are as follows:

• Identify spoken word order.
• Identify spoken definition.
• Listening comprehension.
• Dictation passage.

ESL Birthday Listening Exercises

Exercise 1 – Identification of Spoken Word Order

In the first ESL birthday listening exercise you need to listen to the following recording and then decide which option (A-D) in each question has the words listed in the same order as in the recording. Once you have finished you can use the get score button to see the answers.

ESL Birthday Identification of Spoken Word Order

Listen to the recording of the five groups of five words each given above and decide which option (A-D) in the five questions in this test has the correct order.

1) Which is the correct order for group of words one?

    A) Bow, Toys, Name, Races, Health
    B) Toys, Health, Races, Name, Bow
    C) Name, Health, Bow, Toys, Races
    D) Health, Toys, Name, Bow, Races

2) Which is the correct order for group of words two?

    A) Name, Grandparent, Quiet, Idol, Appropriate
    B) Grandparent, Appropriate, Idol, Quiet, Name
    C) Quiet, Appropriate, Name, Grandparent, Idol
    D) Appropriate, Grandparent, Quiet, Name, Idol

3) Which is the correct order for group of words three?

    A) Anticipation, Toys, Father, Visit, Icing
    B) Toys, Icing, Visit, Father, Anticipation
    C) Father, Icing, Anticipation, Toys, Visit
    D) Icing, Toys, Father, Anticipation, Visit

4) Which is the correct order for group of words four?

    A) Independent, Bicycle, Anticipation, Birthday card, Buy
    B) Bicycle, Buy, Birthday card, Anticipation, Independent
    C) Anticipation, Buy, Independent, Bicycle, Birthday card
    D) Buy, Bicycle, Anticipation, Independent, Birthday card

5) Which is the correct order for group of words five?

    A) Excitement, Icing, Star, Surprise, Year
    B) Icing, Year, Surprise, Star, Excitement
    C) Star, Year, Excitement, Icing, Surprise
    D) Year, Icing, Star, Excitement, Surprise

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 2 – Identification of Spoken Definition

For the second ESL birthday listening exercise you need to listen to the spoken definitions in the recording and then decide which word (A-D) in each question is the correct one. Again you can use the get score button to see how you did.

ESL Birthday Listening Identification of Vocabulary Meaning

Listen to the recording of the meanings of the five vocabulary words given above and decide which word out of the options (A-D) in each question matches the meaning.

1) What is the meaning of the first definition in the recording?

    A) Car
    B) Flowers
    C) Visit
    D) Maturity

2) What is the meaning of the second definition in the recording?

    A) Crips
    B) Date
    C) Idol
    D) Gift

3) What is the meaning of the third definition in the recording?

    A) Teenager
    B) Energetic
    C) Zoo
    D) Party hats

4) What is the meaning of the fourth definition in the recording?

    A) Letter
    B) Wish
    C) Helicopter
    D) Hall

5) What is the meaning of the fifth definition in the recording?

    A) Community
    B) Receive
    C) Appropriate
    D) Jelly

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 3 – Listening Comprehension

In the third ESL birthday listening activity you need to listen to the following comprehension passage and then answer the questions. There is a get score button again for you to use to see the correct answers.

At the end of this page there is a link for you to click that will show the text of the passage so you can check your understanding of it.

ESL Birthday Listening Comprehension

Listen to the recording of the passage about birthdays above and answer the following five questions.

1) When does the birth of a baby have to be registered?

    A) It is not important to register the birth.
    B) It is registered as soon as convenient.
    C) The birth has to be registered when the child goes to school.
    D) It is registered when the baby can walk.

2) According to the passage, at what time of the year is the name Stella usually given?

    A) At the beginning of January.
    B) Stella is given if the baby is born in July.
    C) It is autumn when the name Stella is popular.
    D) A child can be named Stella in any month of the year.

3) Why do parents name their children after pop-stars and footballers?

    A) They choose names to annoy grandparents.
    B) Parents want their children to be pop-stars and footballers.
    C) Parents use the names of their idols.
    D) Parents try to find a name that few others choose.

4) How is a birthday cake decorated?

    A) It is topped with icing and cherries.
    B) It is covered with icing and has candles on it.
    C) The cake is decorated with flowers.
    D) Birthday cakes are not decorated.

5) After the candles are lit on the birthday cake, what happens next?

    A) Everyone goes home.
    B) Everyone takes a turn to blow out the candles.
    C) The cake is eaten.
    D) The family and friends sing 'Happy Birthday'.

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 4 – Dictation

For the fourth ESL birthday listening task you need to write down the following passage exactly as it is spoken. Listen to the recording and write the words down exactly as they are in the recording. In the recording the passage is spoken twice. The first is at a slow speaking speed and the second has pauses after every few words and the punctuation included.

There is another link at the end of the page that you can use to see the full text of the passage so you can check your answer and see how well you understood the recording.

Listening Comprehension Passage
Show Passage »


Dictation Passage
Show Passage »

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