ESL Cities Listening

This ESL cities listening page has a range of listening exercise so you can practice listening to spoken cities vocabulary. It is often difficult to listen to spoken English, so it is useful if you can practice listening to and understand spoken English before you have to have a conversation with someone.

The activities on this ESL cities listen page will help you get better at using and understanding cities vocabulary.

To let you practice your listening skills this page has several exercises for you to do. In each of the exercises you will need to listen to a recording of a native English speaker and then answer some questions or do a writing task. If you do not understand any of the vocabulary when it is being spoken you can go to the ESL cities vocabulary page that has a recording of the words being spoken by a native English speaker so you can hear the correct pronunciation.

The four exercises on this page are as follows:

  • Identify spoken word order.
  • Identify spoken definition.
  • Listening comprehension.
  • Dictation passage. 

ESL Cities Listening Exercises

Exercise 1 – Identification of Spoken Word Order

In this ESL cities listening task you need to decide which option (A-D) in each question has the words listed in the same order as they are spoken in the recording. When you have answered all the questions you can use the get score button to see the correct answers.



ESL Cities Identification of Spoken Word Order


Listen to the recording of the five groups of five words each given above and decide which option (A-D) in the five questions in this test has the correct order.

1) Which is the correct order for group of words one?
        A) Crowded, Funeral home, Outskirts, Luxurious, Congested
        B) Outskirts, Congested, Luxurious, Crowded, Funeral home
        C) Funeral home, Luxurious, Outskirts, Congested, Crowded
        D) Luxurious, Outskirts, Crowded, Congested, Funeral home
2) Which is the correct order for group of words two?
        A) Overpopulation, School building, Movie theater, Florist’s, Residential building
        B) Movie theater, Residential building, Florist’s, Overpopulation, School building
        C) School building, Florist’s, Movie theater, Residential building, Overpopulation
        D) Florist’s, Movie theater, Overpopulation, Residential building, School building
3) Which is the correct order for group of words three?
        A) Outskirts, Residential building, Bookstore, Skyscraper, Brasserie
        B) Bookstore, Brasserie, Skyscraper, Outskirts, Residential building
        C) Residential building, Skyscraper, Bookstore, Brasserie, Outskirts
        D) Skyscraper, Bookstore, Outskirts, Brasserie, Residential building
4) Which is the correct order for group of words four?
        A) Industrial zone, Bowling alley, District, Bookstore, Travel agent
        B) District, Travel agent, Bookstore, Industrial zone, Bowling alley
        C) Bowling alley, Bookstore, District, Travel agent, Industrial zone
        D) Bookstore, District, Industrial zone, Travel agent, Bowling alley
5) Which is the correct order for group of words five?
        A) Congested, Highway, Newsstand, Movie theater, Bakery
        B) Newsstand, Bakery, Movie theater, Congested, Highway
        C) Highway, Movie theater, Newsstand, Bakery, Congested
        D) Movie theater, Newsstand, Congested, Bakery, Highway

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 2 – Identification of Spoken Definition

In the next ESL cities listening activity you need to listen to the recording of several spoken definitions and then decide which option (A-D) in each question has the word that matches the definition. When you have finished you can see the correct answers by using the get score button.



ESL Cities Listening Identification of Vocabulary Meaning


Listen to the recording of the meanings of the five vocabulary words given above and decide which word out of the options (A-D) in each question matches the meaning.

1) What is the meaning of the first definition in the recording?
        A) Airport
        B) Sidewalk
        C) Bowling alley
        D) Main street
2) What is the meaning of the second definition in the recording?
        A) Drive-through
        B) Hospital
        C) Bus shelter
        D) Department store
3) What is the meaning of the third definition in the recording?
        A) Nursery
        B) Sidewalk
        C) Modern
        D) Stationery store
4) What is the meaning of the fourth definition in the recording?
        A) Rush hour
        B) Neighborhood
        C) Pollution
        D) Multi-story car park
5) What is the meaning of the fifth definition in the recording?
        A) Campus
        B) District
        C) Amusement park
        D) High-rise

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 3 – Listening Comprehension

For this ESL cities listening task you need to listen to the following recording of a passage being spoken and then answer the questions about it. To see the correct answers when you have finished you can use the get score button.

At the end of this page you can see the full text of the passage to check your understanding. Just click on the link to show the text.



ESL Cities Listening Comprehension


Listen to the recording of the passage about cities above and answer the following five questions.

1) What is one of the goals of green cities?
        A) Reduce the use renewable energy.
        B) Minimize waste output and pollution.
        C) Improve waste management.
        D) Increase energy consumption.
2) What can the city government do to reduce air pollution?
        A) Keep using fossil energy.
        B) Prohibit the use of motorized vehicles.
        C) Encourage the use of air purifiers.
        D) Improve public transportation.
3) How can a green city produce only a small amount of waste?
        A) By reducing the use of electricity.
        B) By recycling all the waste.
        C) By changing waste to energy.
        D) By changing fossil fuel to energy.
4) How can a green city produce renewable energy?
        A) By using hydroelectric power.
        B) By generating more wind and solar power.
        C) By using modern technology to generate energy.
        D) By using advanced technology to change wind or solar power to energy.
5) What can other cities imitate from green cities?
        A) The green living.
        B) The architecture.
        C) The modernization.
        D) The energy consumption.

Score =

Correct answers:

Exercise 4 – Dictation

In the final ESL cities listening exercise you need to listen to the following recording and then write it down exactly as you hear it. The passage is read twice on the recording: the first time at a slow speaking speed and then for the second with pauses after every few words and the punctuation is included.

There is another link at the end of this page that you can use to show the full text of the passage so you can check your answer.





Show Hidden Answers Listening Comprehension Passage
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Dictation Passage
Show Passage »

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