ESL New Year Listening

On this ESL New Year listening page there are several activities where you need to listening to a recording and then answer some questions. By doing the tasks on this page you can get valuable experience of listening to the New Year vocabulary being used and spoken by a native English speaker.

For all the tasks on this page you will need to listen to a recoding and then either answer some questions about the recording or write something. You can listen to all the recordings as often as you need so that you can answer each activity. If you need any help with the words that are used or how they sound when being spoken, you can go to the ESL New Year vocabulary page that has a word list and a recording of the words being spoken by a native English speaker.

There are the following four exercises on this page:

• Identify the correct spoken word order.
• Identify the correct spoken meaning.
• Listening comprehension passage.
• Dictation passage.

ESL New Year Listening Exercises

Exercise 1 – Identification of Spoken Word Order

For this ESL New Year listening task you need to listen to the recording in this part and decide which option (A-D) in each question has the words listening in the same order as in the recording. There is a get score button after the questions that you can use to see the correct answers.

ESL New Year 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) Banquet, Big Ben, Bagpipes, Custom, kilt
    B) Kilt, Custom, Banquet, Bagpipes, Big Ben
    C) Big Ben, Kilt, Custom, Bagpipes, Banquet
    D) Bagpipes, Kilt, Banquet, Custom, Big Ben

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

    A) Calendar, Music, Buffet, Hangover, Auld Lang Syne
    B) Auld Lang Syne, Hangover, Calendar, Buffet, Music
    C) Music, Auld Lang Syne, Hangover, Buffet, Calendar
    D) Buffet, Auld Lang Syne, Calendar, Hangover, Music

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

    A) Countdown Champagne, 31st December, Host/hostess, Gregorian calendar
    B) Gregorian calendar, Host/hostess, Countdown, 31st December, Champagne
    C) Champagne, Gregorian calendar, Host/hostess, 31st December, Countdown
    D) 31st December, Gregorian calendar, Countdown, Host/hostess, Champagne

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

    A) Big Ben, New Year, Piper, 1st January, Invitation
    B) Invitation, 1st January, Big Ben, Piper, New Year
    C) New Year, Invitation, 1st January, Piper, Big Ben
    D) Piper, Invitation, Big Ben, 1st January, New Year

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

    A) New Year’s Eve, Holiday, Invitation, Champagne, Host/hostess
    B) Host/hostess, Champagne, New Year’s Eve, Invitation, Holiday
    C) Holiday, Host/hostess, Champagne, Invitation, New Year’s Eve
    D) Invitation, Host/hostess, New Year’s Eve, Champagne, Holiday

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 2 – Identification of Spoken Definition

In the next ESL New Year listening exercise you need to again listen to the following recording and this time decide which of the options (A-D) has the word that matches the spoken definition. Again you can use the get score button to see the correct answers.

ESL New Year 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) Family
    B) Banquet
    C) Crowd
    D) Fancy dress

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

    A) Big Ben
    B) Bagpipes
    C) Kilt
    D) Invitation

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

    A) Hogmanay
    B) Eve
    C) Fireworks
    D) Clock

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

    A) New Year
    B) Dance
    C) Piper
    D) Music

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

    A) Gregorian calendar
    B) Invite
    C) Balloons
    D) Public holiday

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 3 – Listening Comprehension

For this ESL New Year listening activity you need to listen to the recording of a passage being spoken and then answer the multiple choice questions about the passage. There is another get score button that will tell you how many you got correct.

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

ESL New Year Listening Comprehension

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

1) What do people usually do on the 1st of January?

    A) They go to work.
    B) They do the opposite of what they did the night before.
    C) They go to lots of bars and pubs.
    D) They go to the cinema.

2) What do people do at a party on New Year’s Day?

    A) They talk to different people.
    B) They listen to music.
    C) They all make food together.
    D) They go for a walk.

3) Why is the weather good for a having a walk on the 1st of January?

    A) It is always wet.
    B) The sky will be very dark.
    C) The weather will change a lot throughout the day.
    D) There generally will not be any snow.

4) Why do people go shopping on the 1st of January?

    A) The shops are closed all day.
    B) The shops have been closed for a week so people need food.
    C) The shops are in the countryside.
    D) The shops have big sales.

5) How big are the discounts on New Year’s Day?

    A) There are no discounts.
    B) The discounts are less than fifty percent.
    C) The discount will be exactly fifty percent.
    D) The discounts could be over fifty percent.

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 4 – Dictation

For the last ESL New Year listening exercise you need to listen to the following recording of a passage being spoken and then write it down exactly as it is said. The recording has the passage being spoken twice: the first at a slow speaking speed and the second with pauses after every few words and the punctuation included.

There is another link at the end of this page that you can use to show the full text of the passage. You can then check to see how many of the word you could write down correctly.

Listening Comprehension Passage
Show Passage »


Dictation Passage
Show Passage »

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