ESL Supermarket Listening

You can use this ESL supermarket listening page to get experience of listening to spoken supermarket words. You need to get experience of listening to the words being used so that when you meet someone and have a conversation you will be able to understand what they are saying.

This page has four listening task for you to do in which you need to listen to a recording of a native English speaker using supermarket words and then answer some questions or do some writing. When doing the tasks you can listen to the recordings several times to make sure that you fully understand them. As well as listening to be able to answer the questions, you should try to focus on the correct pronunciation and try to remember it so you will be able to say the words correctly. There is a recording of the supermarket words being spoken on the ESL supermarket vocabulary page that you can listen to if you are not sure how any of the words should sound.

This page has the following four exercises:

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

ESL Supermarket Listening Exercises

Exercise 1- Identification of Spoken Word Order

In the first ESL supermarket listening exercise you need to listen to the groups of spoken words in the following recording and then decide which option (A-D) in each question has them in the same order. You can click the get score button to see how many you got correct.

ESL Supermarket 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) Mutton, Bread, Wine, Ham, Chicken
    B) Bread, Ham, Chicken, Mutton, Wine
    C) Mutton, Chicken, Ham, Wine, Bread
    D) Ham, Chicken, Bread, Wine, Mutton

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

    A) Carrot, Fruit, Meat, Cereal, Cigarettes
    B) Fruit, Cereal, Cigarettes, Carrot, Meat
    C) Carrot, Cigarettes, Cereal, Meat, Fruit
    D) Cereal, Cigarettes, Fruit, Meat, Carrot

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

    A) Manager, Lottery ticket, Express check-out, Bedding, Vegetables
    B) Lottery ticket, Bedding, Vegetables, Manager, Express check-out
    C) Manager, Vegetables, Bedding, Express check-out, Lottery ticket
    D) Bedding, Vegetables, Lottery ticket, Express check-out, Manager

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

    A) Kitchen roll/towel, Biscuits, Basket, Mushroom, Meat
    B) Biscuits, Mushroom, Meat, Kitchen roll/towel, Basket
    C) Kitchen roll/towel, Meat, Mushroom, Basket, Biscuits
    D) Mushroom, Meat, Biscuits, Basket, Kitchen roll/towel

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

    A) Receipt, Kettle, Deli, Medicines, Vegetables
    B) Kettle, Medicines, Vegetables, Receipt, Deli
    C) Receipt, Vegetables, Medicines, Deli, Kettle
    D) Medicines, Vegetables, Kettle, Deli, Receipt

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 2 – Identification of Spoken Definition

For the second ESL supermarket listening exercise you need to listen to the spoken definitions of words in the following recoding and then chose the word (A-D) in each question that matches the definition. Then you can use the get score button to see the correct answers.

ESL Supermarket 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) Fruit
    B) Biscuits
    C) Wine
    D) Celery

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

    A) Newspaper
    B) Greetings card
    C) Assistant
    D) Bottled water

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

    A) Queue
    B) Self-service
    C) Dairy section
    D) Gas

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

    A) Diesel
    B) Carrier bag
    C) Ham
    D) Postage stamp

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

    A) Soap
    B) Soup
    C) Pilchards
    D) Cake

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 3 – Listening Comprehension

In the third ESL supermarket listening exercise you need to answer the following questions after listening to the recording of a passage being spoken by a native English speaker. Again there is a get score button so you can see how well you did.

At the end of this page there is a link that you can use to show the full text of the passage. You can use this to check your understanding.

ESL Supermarket Listening Comprehension

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

1) Where would you expect to find a large supermarket?

    A) In a small town.
    B) In the centre of a town.
    C) In a retail park on the outskirts of a town.
    D) In a village.

2) Where are you most likely to find a Waitrose supermarket?

    A) The south of England.
    B) Scotland.
    C) The north of England.
    D) In a retail park in Glasgow.

3) How can customers get shopping if they live miles from a shop?

    A) By phoning the store.
    B) By ordering 'on-line'.
    C) By walking to the shopping.
    D) By hitching a lift.

4) What item has a short shelf life?

    A) Tinned fruit.
    B) Frozen peas.
    C) Ice-cream.
    D) Bread.

5) Why are tobacco products hidden from view?

    A) It is the law of the land.
    B) To stop them going stale.
    C) To keep them fresh.
    D) To avoid sneezing.

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 4 – Dictation 

For the fourth ESL supermarket exercise you need to listen to the following dictation passage and then write it down exactly as it is spoken in the passage. The recording has the passage being spoken twice: the first time is at a slow reading speed while the second time has pauses after every few words and the punctuation is spoken as well.

There is also a link at the end of the page for you to see the full text of the passage. You can use this to check your answer once you have finished the task.

Listening Comprehension Passage
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Dictation Passage
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