General Listening Quiz

What are common after-school activities children and teenagers might be involved in during a normal school week?

1. 1. People should plan their weekly activities in advance.
   2. Free time is more important than planned weekly activities.
   3. Exercise should be part of everyone’s weekly routine.
   4. Socializing is more important than completing chores during the week.
   5. People waste too much time on hobbies instead of productive activities.
   6. Weekly activities should always include learning something new.
   7. Relaxation should take priority over work or school tasks each week.
   8. Technology makes it harder to balance weekly activities.
   9. Volunteering should be part of everyone’s weekly schedule.
   10. Weekend activities are more important than weekday activities.

Listen to the recording and answer the questions. (See transcript)

Here are some words that appear in the recording:

• catch up (verb): reach a point where one should be
  – I need to catch up on my sleep. I’ve been very tired recently.
• geometry (noun): math of lines, points, and shapes
  – My daughter is taking geometry in junior high school now.
• uh-uh (verb): informal for no
  – Uh-uh. I don’t like to do housework at all.
• chores (noun): housework
  – If you do your chores quickly, I’ll take you shopping.
• ruin (verb): destroy or damage
  – My dad asked me to babysit tonight, so that ruined my plans to go out with friends to a movie.
• vault (noun): a room or space, often made of steel, for safekeeping valuables like money or important documents
  – The millionaire kept all his valuable coins, paintings, and jewelry in a secret vault in his house.
• spare (verb): give up carefully
  – My son needed money to fix his car, but I could only spare $200 since I didn’t have much money either.

Describe your typical weekly schedule, including school, work, and leisure activities. Use adverbs of frequency (e.g., always, almost always, often, sometimes, seldom, never, etc.) and time expressions (once a week, twice a month, once in a while, etc.) to describe your schedule.

Contact a friend or family member online, by phone, by text, or by mobile app. Find at the answers to these questions:

1. What are three things they do in the morning?
2. What do they usually do for lunch?
3. Do they eat alone or with friends or colleagues?
4. What are two things they do in the afternoon?
5. Where do they have dinner?
6. What do they often do in the evening?
7. What time do they go to bed?