IELTS Listening · Cam 12

Test 2 Part 3

Oh, good morning. You must be James.

Level: C1 · 99 sentences

Transcript

  1. Oh, good morning.
  2. You must be James.
  3. I'm Beth Cartwright.
  4. Please call me Beth.
  5. Thank you. Now,
  6. As this is your first tutorial
  7. Since you started on the Scandinavian Studies course,
  8. I'd like to find out something about you.
  9. Why did you decide to take this course?
  10. Well, my mother is Danish.
  11. And although we always lived in England,
  12. She used to talk about her home a lot.
  13. And that made me want to visit Denmark.
  14. We hardly ever did, though.
  15. My mother usually went on her own.
  16. But whenever her relations or friends were in England,
  17. They always came to see us.
  18. I see. So I assume you already speak Danish,
  19. One of the languages you'll be studying?
  20. I can get by when I talk to people,
  21. Though I'm not terribly accurate.
  22. Now, you probably know that you'll
  23. Spend the third year of the course abroad.
  24. Have you had any thoughts about that?
  25. I'm really looking forward to it.
  26. And although Denmark seems the obvious
  27. Place to go because of my family connections,
  28. I'd love to spend the time in Iceland.
  29. Oh, I'm sure it can be arranged.
  30. Do you have any plans for when you graduate?
  31. A lot of students go on to take a master's degree.
  32. I think the four years of the undergraduate
  33. Course will be enough for me.
  34. I'm interested in journalism,
  35. And I quite like the idea
  36. Of moving to Scandinavia and writing for magazines.
  37. I'd find that more creative than translating,
  38. Which I suppose most graduates do.
  39. OK. Now, how are you finding
  40. The courses you're taking this term, James?
  41. Well, I'm really enjoying the one on Swedish cinema.
  42. That'll continue next term.
  43. But the one on Scandinavian literature
  44. That's running at the moment will be replaced by more specialized courses.
  45. Oh, and by the way,
  46. If you're interested in watching Danish television programs,
  47. There's going to be a course on that the term after next.
  48. That sounds good.
  49. Have you started thinking about the literature
  50. Paper that you have to write in the next few weeks?
  51. Yes. My first choice would be to do something on the Icelandic sagas.
  52. Hmm. The trouble with that is that a lot
  53. Of people choose that topic and it
  54. Can be difficult to get hold of the books you'll need.
  55. Why not leave that for another time?
  56. Right. You might find modern novels or 19th century playwrights interesting.
  57. I've read or seen several plays in translation,
  58. So that would be a good idea.
  59. Fine. I'll put you down for that topic.
  60. Right. So what would you advise
  61. Me to aim at in the paper?
  62. First, I suggest you avoid taking one writer
  63. And going into a great deal of detail.
  64. That approach certainly has its place,
  65. But I think you first need
  66. To get an understanding of the literature
  67. In the context of the society in which it was produced,
  68. Who it was written for, how it was published, and so on.
  69. I also think that's more fruitful
  70. Than placing it within the history of the genre.
  71. Okay, that sounds reasonable.
  72. No, I haven't.
  73. There's so much that seems interesting.
  74. Viking settlement in other countries, trade, mythology.
  75. Well, what I suggest is that you
  76. Read an assignment a student wrote last year,
  77. Which is kept in the library.
  78. It's short and well-focused, and I'm sure you'll find it helpful.
  79. I'll give you the details in a moment.
  80. Textbooks usually cover so many topics,
  81. It can be very difficult to choose just one.
  82. Okay. I've got a DVD of the film
  83. About the Vikings that came out earlier this year.
  84. Should I watch that again?
  85. If it's the one I am thinking of, I'd ignore it.
  86. It's more fantasy than reality.
  87. But I've got a recording of a documentary that you should watch.
  88. It makes some interesting and provocative points,
  89. Which I think will help you to focus your topic.
  90. Right. So then should I work out an outline?
  91. Yes, just headings for different sections at this stage.
  92. And then you should start looking
  93. For suitable articles and books to draw on.
  94. And take notes which you organise according to those headings.
  95. I see. Then put short phrases and sentences
  96. As bullet points under each heading.
  97. Make sure that this skeleton makes sense
  98. And flows properly before writing up the paper in full.
  99. OK. Thanks. That's very helpful.