CELPIP Listening Part 4 Practice Test: Free Cooking Classes

NARRATOR: Shoppers at a Brampton grocery store are picking up more than groceries these days. Every Wednesday evening, a corner beside the bakery is cleared for a free cooking class led by seventy-four-year-old Rajinder Gill, who spent four decades running restaurant kitchens in Toronto before retiring last spring. Gill admits that retirement lasted about three weeks before boredom set in. When he complained to the store's owner, a longtime friend, she suggested he teach. The classes, limited to twelve participants, focus on simple weeknight meals built around whatever happens to be on sale. Gill insists the goal isn't to turn anyone into a professional, but to show families that a nutritious dinner doesn't have to cost a fortune. Registration opens each Monday at nine, and the spots are usually gone within an hour. The owner says she had hoped for a handful of curious regulars. Instead, the waiting list now stretches past two hundred names, and sales of the ingredients featured in each lesson have climbed noticeably. Some participants have even started posting their own variations on a recipe board near the checkout. Gill, for his part, says he has never been busier, or happier. He is currently training two volunteers so that the store can add a Saturday morning session.