IELTS Listening Map Questions | Example 1

Section 2

You are going to hear an introduction to a kindergarten. 

Good afternoon, everybody. First, It is my pleasure to welcome you all to the sunny skies Nursery School. My name is Doris Matthews and I am the headmistress. First of all, I’ll describe our philosophy of Early Education along with our teaching principles. I’ll try not to sound like a teacher giving a lecture. Then we’ll have a tour of the school and finish with tea and sandwiches in the staff room, where you can meet our teachers and administrative staff. They will all be very happy to meet you and answer any questions you might have. First, as you know, we base our teaching or should I say learning because we try to help our children discover and learn for themselves rather than simply try to teach them facts. We base our efforts on the principles discovered by the wonderful Italian educator and Dr. Maria Montessori. This means we believe learning best takes place in an atmosphere in which the children interact a lot and learn from each other. This encourages them to be lifelong learners and problem solvers. For decades, many studies have shown that children and even us adults learn through the senses. Our children learn by manipulating materials. Toys, sand, blocks almost anything and interacting with others. They have fun as they learn and these experiences helped them to form on their own, with of course a little bit of help from the teacher. Abstract ideas. We tried to cultivate the whole person believing that the spiritual, emotional, physical, cognitive and social interests and needs are all equally important and interdependent. We also do our best to foster respect for each other and the environment. We find that our school garden where they learn the magic of life, the need to recycle organic resources. How sad that so many people around the world think their kitchen waste is just that waste and maintain healthy soil for growing our food, but you’ll see for yourselves, you’ll be able to taste some of our homegrown tomatoes and things when we have a snack in the staff room. Some of our children’s most magical moments have been when they see the seeds they planted sprouting up through the soil. 

Well, that’s enough about our philosophy and method of education. I’m sure we’ll enjoy chatting about it some more when we meet the staff. Now, I’d like to show you around. It’s a lovely day. So we’ll start with the vegetable garden. I’m sure you’ve all guessed that we are very proud of our garden. You can see it outside the balcony. It’s on the south side of the school so it gets lots of sun.

On the left, the east Side you can see the classroom block. Actually, we don’t see them as classrooms in the normal sense. They are more like activity and play centers. And on the opposite side, we have the dining hall and the kitchen. Behind us, across the courtyard, we have the offices and the staff room. So out we go. So here we are in our garden. We grow all the vegetables we need for the children’s and the staff’s lunches for the whole year. The greenhouse you see over there is a great help in the winter and spring. I can’t begin to tell you how much the children love their garden and they learn so much. Not just how to grow things but also arithmetic weights and measures.

They love seeing how heavy the biggest tomato or potato or whatever it is. They also love getting dirty, but doctors tell us that’s good for the healthy development of strong immune systems. Have you read those reports about how kids, who never come into contact with a bit of dirt or with animals are much more likely to suffer from asthma? It’s fascinating, but don’t worry. we make sure they have a good wash before they go home.

So shall we have a look at the classrooms now? We have small classes. Usually no more than 10 children per class. But we also have a lot of activities in which the whole school joins in. Sports, running around the outside of the school. to warm up on a winter’s day, singing, we always enjoy a song or two when we have our daily morning assembly in the Assembly Hall. Okay, here we are in the first classroom. You see the 10 or so small foam rubber mattresses over there by the cupboard and we have blankets inside the cupboard. They are for after lunch, when we like the children to have an hour’s sleep. Then they have lots of energy until it’s time to go home.

Oh, I just saw Miss Robbins taking the sandwiches to the staff room. Let’s go there now and meet the staff. They are always so excited to meet our children’s parents. 

1. Dining hall
2. Classroom block

“On the left, the east Side you can see the classroom block. Actually, we don’t see them as classrooms in the normal sense. They are more like activity and play centers. And on the opposite side, we have the dining hall and the kitchen.”

For the second question, it is clear from the talk which goes thus:

“So we’ll start with the vegetable garden. I’m sure you’ve all guessed that we are very proud of our garden. You can see it outside the balcony. It’s on the south side of the school so it gets lots of sun. On the left, the east Side you can see the classroom block.”