Straw No More, by Molly Steer

A few days ago I posted an article to help you with your IELTS listening section 4 preparation. In it, I linked a YouTube video that contains a practice listening passage you can use to prepare. Today I’ll be doing something similar…

In the IELTS listening section 4 you will hear a person giving a talk on a topic. This is usually a presentation or lecture in an academic context (such as school or university). That’s why I make these TED video lessons. They are great practice for IELTS students.

In today’s video we will look at a talk by a young girl from Australia. Remember that the IELTS listening exam includes accents from England, Scotland, the USA, Canada, and so on… It is not just one single accent that dominates the exam.

The topic here is environment, which is really common in the IELTS because it is so important to our world. Below, I’m going to give you some practice questions to help improve your listening skills.

Listen

Watch the video and then answer the questions below. (The answers are at the bottom of the page.)

Comprehension Questions

Read the questions carefully, and then write down the correct answer.

1. What is the name of the movie Molly watched with her mum?
2. Which animal prefers to eat jellyfish?
3. How many straws to do humans use each day?
4. What is the name of her campaign?
5. If you need to use a straw, what kind of straw should you use?
6. How many straws has she prevented from going into the Great Barrier Reef each year?

True or False?

Read these statements and choose whether they are true or false.

1. Plastic eventually decomposes in water.
2. Humans eat plastic that was previously eaten by marine life.
3. Lined up, the number of straws people use each day would go around the world 6 times.
4. The Great Barrier Reef is located near Cairns.
5. She received messages of support only from other schools around Australia.

Speaking

You can find lots of IELTS speaking questions about the environment here.

Here’s a question from part 3 of the speaking exam:

How important is it to get schoolchildren to recycle?

and my sample answer:

I think it’s just about the most important thing in environmentalism. Many adults already have bad habits that are hard to break, but children can easily be taught to act responsibly. The lessons they learn now will stay with them for life, and be passed along to the next generation. I honestly cannot think of anything more important than teaching children this valuable message.

Answers

Conprehension

1. A Plastic Ocean.
3. More than 500 million.
4. Straw No More
5. Reusable
6. 3 million

True False

1. F
2. T
3. F – 4 times
4. T
5. F