IELTS Listening · Cam 19

Test 3 Part 2

The Children's Book Festival is coming up again soon and here to tell us all about it is the festival's

Level: C1 · 69 sentences

Transcript

The Children's Book Festival is coming up again soon
and here to tell us all about it is the festival's
organiser, Jenny Morgan.
So tell us what we can expect this year, Jenny.
Well, as usual, we've got five days of action-packed,
exciting events for children, with writers coming from all over the country getting involved.
Just to give you an idea of what's on offer
in the workshops, first of all,
there's a very special event called Superheroes.
This is a chance for deaf children to share
their reading experiences with author Madeleine Gordon, who is herself hearing impaired.
Just Do It is a practical workshop led by the well-known illustrator Mark Keane.
He'll take participants on a magical journey to faraway
lands with an opportunity for aspiring actors to do some role play.
Count On Me is an inspiring
and entertaining look at the issues of friendship for 13 to 14-year-olds.
It looks at some of the friendships described in popular books
and asks participants to compare these with their own experiences.
Speak Up is part of a series of workshops on the subject of mental health.
This is a creative writing workshop encouraging children to describe situations
where young people experience loneliness.
A recent survey revealed that children can be lonely even
when they're at home with their families.
Jump for Joy, as many of you will know, is the heartwarming,
best-selling story by Nina Karan about a young girl's trip to visit her relatives in India.
It recently received the gold medal at the Waterford Awards.
Nina will get children to celebrate the word joy by writing a poem.
Sticks and Stones is the beautifully illustrated picture book for young
readers about a community who organise an African Caribbean festival to help local children learn about their Jamaican roots.
This will be a musical event
where children will have the chance to play steel drums.
This is bound to be very popular,
so please book as soon as possible.
Thanks, Jenny. That all sounds really interesting.
I'm just wondering if you have a favourite book you could recommend for our readers?
It's hard to choose, but Alive and Kicking is definitely worth mentioning.
You won't have heard of the writer as it's her first book,
which is really impressive.
It's basically the teenage diary of a boy from Somalia
who comes to live in the UK.
It deals with the serious issue of immigration
and all the challenges the boy has to face at school
and with the language barrier, etc.
Usually books like this are quite sad,
but this one actually made me cry with laughter.
On each page there are simple but hilarious black
and white stick drawings of the boy with his friends and teachers.
At the end of each diary entry,
there are new English words the boy learns each day,
which may help develop some children's vocabulary.
I think my kids would enjoy that.
What about any advice for parents on how to encourage their children to read more?
Well, this is something I get asked about a lot.
There are so many distractions for kids these days that it can be hard to find time for reading.
One thing I'd say is to make time to sit down with your child and share books with them.
A lot of parents give up reading aloud to their children
as soon as they learn to read independently,
but this is a mistake.
It's good to read more advanced books to them
as it helps to develop their vocabulary.
If you don't have time for this,
then let them listen to audiobooks.
Often they'll want to read books they've listened to for themselves.
I think it's a good idea to make a mental note of the type of books your child is reading.
Often they just read the same genre all the time,
which can get a bit boring.
You can introduce new authors and genres to them.
Librarians should be able to help you with this.
Well, Jenny, I think that's really useful...