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CELPIP Listening Part 4: Listening to a News Item

CELPIP Listening Part 4 Practice Test: Thunder Bay Student Wins Spelling Bee

By Iris

A free Listening Part 4 practice test in the CELPIP format: 5 questions with the answer key. Play each recording once, as in the real test, answer, then check your answers at the bottom of the page. The transcript is under each recording.

Questions
5
Format
1 news report, questions after it
Question style
Multiple choice, 4 options
Play like the real test
Each recording plays once, then each question with 30 seconds to answer (Parts 4–6: one timer for the part). No pausing to replay, like test day.

  1. Leila's participation was uncertain because

  2. Leila prepared for the competition by

  3. In the semifinal, Leila

  4. Leila's classmates

  5. The principal's comment suggests that

Transcript (read it after you answer)

NARRATOR: A twelve-year-old from Thunder Bay is Ontario's new spelling champion, and she very nearly didn't compete at all. Leila Haddad, a grade seven student at Westfort Public School, outlasted forty-three finalists at Saturday's provincial championship in Toronto, correctly spelling chiaroscuro in the twenty-first round. Her participation had been in doubt until last month, when her family realized that travel and hotel rooms would cost upwards of eighteen hundred dollars. Undeterred, her classmates organized a bake sale and a car wash, and a local coach company donated return tickets. Haddad, who began entering contests only two years ago, credits her grandmother, a retired English teacher, who quizzed her every evening by video call from Winnipeg. Remarkably, Haddad stumbled in the semifinal on a far simpler word, rhythm, but was reinstated after judges reviewed the recording and concluded that the word had been mispronounced to her. Organizers admitted the error and apologized publicly. Haddad will now represent the province at the national championship in Ottawa this spring. Her principal, Gordon Fraser, says the school community is determined to rally behind her once again, though this time, he jokes, the champion may have to bake a few cakes herself.

0 of 5 answered

Answer key

Show all 5 answers
  1. Leila's participation was uncertain because D. of what the trip would cost.
  2. Leila prepared for the competition by B. practising with a relative online.
  3. In the semifinal, Leila C. was given another chance.
  4. Leila's classmates A. raised money for her trip.
  5. The principal's comment suggests that B. more fundraising is being planned.

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