Listening

PART ONE.  SENTENCE COMPLETION.   You will hear someone called Karen Williams talking about her career. For questions 1-12, complete the sentences with a word or short phrase. You will hear the piece twice.

Karen's ambition was to work as a hotel (0) manager.

Not only did the course involve three periods of work experience, but also (1)_____________ covering different subjects.

At the end of her first work experience, Karen spent two days (2)________________

and checking rooms with the floor housekeeper.

Her last work experience was spent in the hotel's (3)________________.

The subject of Karen's next course was (4)________________.

She deemed the experience of working in a kitchen (5)______________.

During her HND course, the subjects she had to study were business studies, hotel management, human resource management and (6)________________.

The topic of her report was (7)________________ in hotels.

In her report, she wrote reviews of various (8)________________.

She joined an organization with the initials (9)________________.

She got information from a magazine called (10)________________.

In her present job, she has to deal with problems caused by the hotel being (11)______________.

She understands that guests get very (12)____________ since they may have travelled a long distance before getting there.

PART TWO.  MULTIPLE CHOICE.  You will hear an interview with someone who consulted a 'life coach' to improve her life. For questions 1-8, choose the most appropriate option, A, B or C. You will hear the recording TWICE.

0. Brigid decided to

A get a life coach

B give up her job as a journalist

C change her life on her own.

1. Brigid says that she consulted a life coach because

A both her work and home life were getting worse.

B other efforts to improve her life had failed.

C the changes she wanted to make were only small ones.

2. At first Brigid...

A was in two minds about it.

B embraced the change.

C did not trust her life coach.

3. Her relationship with money..

A was influenced by her upbringing.

B would improve if she became less anxious.

C improved in half an hour after meeting her coach.

4. What did Brigid's coach tell her about money?

A It would be very easy for Brigid to get a lot of it.

B Brigid's attitude towards it was uncharacteristic of her.

C Brigid placed too much emphasis on it in her life.

5. What does Brigid say about her reaction to her coach's advice on money?

A She felt silly repeating the words her coach gave her.

B She tried to hide the fact that she found it ridiculous.

C She felt a lot better as a result of following it.

6. The following sessions...

A helped her value her assets.

B encouraged her to rummage through her clutter.

C made her focus on jobs she was really interested in.

7. What does Brigid say happened during these sessions?

A She was told that most people's problems had the same cause.

B Her powers of concentration improved.

C Some things she was told to do proved harder than others.

8. What has Brigid concluded?

A The benefits of coaching do not compensate for the effort required.

B She was too unselfish before she had coaching.

C She came to expect too much of her coach.

KEY

PART ONE.  SENTENCE COMPLETION.   You will hear someone called Karen Williams talking about her career. For questions 1-10, complete the sentences with a word or short phrase. You will hear the piece twice.

Karen's ambition was to work as a hotel (0) manager.

Not only did the course involve three periods of work experience, but also (1)_modules_ covering different subjects.

At the end of her first work experience, Karen spent two days (2) planning rotas

and checking rooms with the floor housekeeper.                                    

Her last work experience was spent in the hotel's (3) front office.

The subject of Karen's next course was (4) Hospitality Management.

She deemed the experience of working in a kitchen (5)_invaluable_.

During her HND course, the subjects she had to study were business studies, hotel management, human resource management and (6) operational techniques.

The topic of her report was (7) green issues in hotels.

In her report, she wrote reviews of various (8) give-aways.

She joined an organization with the initials (9) HCIMA.

She got information from a magazine called (10) Caterer and Hotelkeeper.

In her present job, she has to deal with problems caused by the hotel being (11) overbooked.

She understands that guests get very (12) irate since they may have travelled a long distance before getting there.

Vocabulary

planning rotas: A housekeeper in a hotel is responsible for the good condition of the rooms, particularly with regard to the cleaning of them. The floor housekeeper is responsible for the rooms on one particular floor or storey of the hotel. A rota is a timetable or schedule saying when duties have to be carried out and who will do them at these times. In this case the rotas concerned the cleaning of rooms.

front office: The front office she refers to is clearly the reception area of the hotel, where staff deal with guests, rather than other offices in other parts of the hotel which guests do not go to.

H(h)ospitality M(m)anagement: In general terms, hospitality is the entertainment and treatment of guests. As a subject for study, it concerns hotels, restaurants, etc, and the management of them with regard to guests.

operational techniques: This means methods for carrying out activities and practices, in this case in a hotel. She also studied human resource management, which means the management of staff (also known as personnel management).

green issues: This means 'environmental matters' or 'matters which concern doing things which are good for or do not damage the environment'.

give-aways: A give-away is a free gift, something which is given to people that they do not have to pay for. She mentions soaps and shampoos as examples of things that hotels give to guests.

HCIMA: The full name of the organization she joined was the Hotel and Catering International Management Association.

Caterer and Hotelkeeper: This is clearly a trade paper or trade journal (a newspaper or magazine produced for and distributed among people working in a particular kind or area of business). A caterer is someone whose job involves providing food and drink for social events, companies, etc and a hotelkeeper is the manager or owner of a hotel.

overbooked: If a hotel is overbooked, an administrative mistake has been made and more people have booked rooms than there are rooms in the hotel, so it is impossible to accommodate all the people for whom bookings have been taken. The same verb is used with regard to an aircraft flight, when the number of passengers who have booked seats is greater than the number of seats on the aircraft.

irate / aɪˈreɪt/ very angry. E.g. irate customers. An irate phone call

PART TWO.  MULTIPLE CHOICE.  You will hear an interview with someone who consulted a 'life coach' to improve her life. For questions 1-8, choose the most appropriate option, A, B or C. You will hear the recording TWICE.

0. Brigid decided to

A get a life coach

B give up her job as a journalist

C change her life on her own.

1. Brigid says that she consulted a life coach because

A both her work and home life were getting worse.

B other efforts to improve her life had failed.

C the changes she wanted to make were only small ones.

2. At first Brigid...

A was in two minds about it.

B embraced the change.

C did not trust her life coach.

3. Her relationship with money..

A was influenced by her upbringing.

B would improve if she became less anxious.

C improved in half an hour after meeting her coach.

4. What did Brigid's coach tell her about money?

A It would be very easy for Brigid to get a lot of it.

B Brigid's attitude towards it was uncharacteristic of her.

C Brigid placed too much emphasis on it in her life.

5. What does Brigid say about her reaction to her coach's advice on money?

A She felt silly repeating the words her coach gave her.

B She tried to hide the fact that she found it ridiculous.

C She felt a lot better as a result of following it.

6. The following sessions...

A helped her value her assets.

B encouraged her to rummage through her clutter.

C made her focus on jobs she was really interested in.

7. What does Brigid say happened during these sessions?

A She was told that most people's problems had the same cause.

B Her powers of concentration improved.

C Some things she was told to do proved harder than others.

8. What has Brigid concluded?

A The benefits of coaching do not compensate for the effort required.

B She was too unselfish before she had coaching.

C She came to expect too much of her coach.

SCRIPT

PART I

You will hear someone called Karen William: talking about her career. For questions 9-17, complete the sentences with a word or short phrase.

KAREN WILLIAMS: I left school with an ambition to work in hotels as a manager in England or maybe abroad. My local college offered a two-year Diploma in Hotel Administration and Tourism. The course involved three periods of work experience as well as modules covering hotel front office, restaurant, housekeeping, business studies and languages.

My first work experience was in the housekeeping department of a hotel. It was hard work and I was only there for two weeks. I learnt all about cleaning rooms, what equipment to use, changing beds and, more importantly, about life in a hotel. For the last two days I worked with the floor housekeeper, planning rotas and checking rooms. The second placement was for four months. I went to work in Germany. Although I had studied the language at college, my language skills improved dramatically. Most of the time I worked in the restaurant and housekeeping. The final work experience of five weeks was in the front office of a hotel, where I learnt all about the

switchboard, reservations, porter's desk and cashiers.

I decided to carry on studying and do a Higher National Diploma, or HND, in Hospitality Management. During the summer months between one course and another I worked in a restaurant kitchen. I'd never worked in a kitchen before and it was interesting to see how one worked. Although I decided that I didn't want to be a chef, the experience of seeing what goes on was invaluable.

The two-year HND was very interesting. Some students had come straight from school, some from hotel and catering courses and some had got into the course as a result of their age and experience. We studied a range of subjects, including business studies, hotel management, human resource management and operational techniques. There were also some optional subjects and I took conference and leisure facility management, advanced business and languages. The work experience was very useful, and I had to write a detailed report on 'green issues' in hotels. That was probably the thing I found most difficult on the course, although it certainly gave me a different perspective on things. It was interesting - for example, I reviewed give-aways such as soaps and shampoos as part of the report. I became a student member of the HClMA, the Hotel and Catering International Management Association, when I started the course and I was able to request information from them. Their magazines often have articles of interest that students can use for assignments. My other source of information was Caterer and Hotelkeeper, the weekly magazine.

The college was associated with a university, and so after I completed the HND, I was able to go straight onto the third year of a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. I completed that course fairly recently and I've just started work as a junior assistant manager at a London hotel. I love the work there, although sometimes the duty management shifts are a bit of a killer. Usually the hotel is overbooked when I am on duty and so I often end up as the one who has to book out

guests. We use a nearby hotel of the same standard and provide transport but it is understandable when a guest gets very irate, arriving after a long journey. My aim is to stay here to gain experience before I move on. Possibilities include hotels within the group or maybe abroad, where I can use my languages. One day I'd like to be a General Manager.

PART 2

You will hear an interview with someone who consulted a life coach to improve her life. For questions 18-22, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which fits best according to what you hear.

INTERVIEWER: My next guest is Brigid McConville, a journalist who decided to get herself a life coach. Brigid, what made you do it and what is a life coach?

BRIGID: Well, all was not entirely well with my life. Nothing drastic, I just felt 'stuck' and in need of change, both on the work front - too much to do, too little time - and at home ditto. I wasn't miserable enough for therapy or counselling. I simply wanted to get a little more from life. Until recently, the options for someone in my situation would have been extremely limited. Now, however, legions of life coaches are out there, ready and waiting to come to the aid of the frustrated and down-at-heart. For about £40 a session, your personal coach will telephone you once a week, and spend half an hour talking to you in an effort to help you sort your life

out.

INTERVIEWER: But isn't this just another self-improvement fad? Like all the self-help books and tapes?

BRIGID: Well, I was a bit dubious myself, but I decided to try it. I booked a course with Fiona Harrold, a leading British coach. She identified my anxieties almost immediately. Within half an hour of our first conversation, I found myself agreeing that the first thing I had to tackle was my deeply ambivalent relationship with money. Yes, of course it was rooted in childhood - but what could we actually do about it? Fiona is a passionate advocate of self-belief and with her characteristic verve, she told me I had to carve out a whole new way of thinking about myself. I must see myself as 'a magnet for money', she said. And she told me: 'Consider yourself someone to whom cash flows effortlessly. Why shouldn't you have an easy life, an abundance of pleasure, leisure and luxury - and all without feeling any guilt?'

INTERVIEWER: How did you react to that?

BRIGID: Well, it seemed such a preposterous idea that I laughed out loud down the telephone. But, undeterred by my scepticism, Fiona told me to suspend my disbelief, and gave me a clutch of positive affirmations with which to brainwash myself into readiness for riches. She told me to repeat the following words whenever possible: 'I, Brigid, am now ready to have the ideal life that I deserve.' Doing this, I found, cheered me up no end.

INTERVIEWER: What else did she tell you?

BRIGID: Well, subsequent sessions were more practical. First came the mandatory de-cluttering - she told me to throw out as much unnecessary jumble and rubbish as possible, clearing space for all the goodies to come - once the money started to roll in. Then we began trying to cure my personal finance phobia; I dutifully did my sums, and started saving something, however small, every month. My work also came under close scrutiny, too, as I made up my mind to concentrate on jobs that really interested me. Exactly which issues you tackle during coaching is up to you. According to Fiona, most people want to get organized at home and at work, make the most of their abilities and sort out money problems. She reckons that building up confidence is vital. She really does believe that people are capable of doing anything they want to do, and that all that stands in their way is childhood conditioning.

INTERVIEWER: So what did you get out of it all? And would you recommend it?

BRIGID: Well, coaching makes you get on and do all those things you've put off for so long, because there is the deadline of the next session. If you don't act in time, your coach probably won't want to speak to you. So coaching is hardly a soft option. But for me, it has provided a great boost. There have been no instant miracles, but things are looking up at work and financially, money and I are definitely on better terms. I still have my doubts about the 'me first' approach but,

then again, it is a healthy counterbalance to the 'me last' way of thinking I'm used to.

INTERVIEWER: Thanks, Brigid. Now, if you want to find out more about life coaches you can contact this address ...

Vocabulary

verve: / vɜːv /1. energy, excitement or enthusiasm. E.g. It was a performance of verve and vitality.

jumble (of something): an untidy or confused mixture of things. E.g. a jumble of books and paper. The essay was a meaningless jumble of ideas. 2. a collection of old or used clothes, etc. that are no longer wanted and are going to be taken to a jumble sale.