Level A2 LAAS ENGLISH LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS MAY Certificate Recognised by ICC NAME... LANGUAGE ATTAINMENT ASSESSMENT SYSTEM INSTRUCTIONS

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1 NAME... ENGLISH LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS LAAS LANGUAGE ATTAINMENT ASSESSMENT SYSTEM Level A2 Certificate Recognised by ICC MAY 2012 INSTRUCTIONS Be sure you have written your name at the top of this page. Do not open this booklet until the exam starts. The order of the exam papers is: PART A Listening, PART B Reading & Usage, PART C Writing. Time allowed for all three parts: 90 minutes

2 LAAS MAY 2012 A2 LISTENING PAGE 1 Α LISTENING (25 points) Time: approximately 20 minutes As you listen to the recording, mark your answers in this booklet. Answer all the questions. Give only one answer for each question. After the end of the recording, you will have 3 minutes to transfer your answers onto your Answer Sheet. Mark them in 2H or HB pencil. LISTENING EXERCISE 1: Numbers 1 to 7 SHOPPING IN A BIG-BOX STORE Decide if each statement, 1 to 6, is true or not. Write A for True or B for False in the space beside each number. 1. Ted had an unpleasant experience at a big-box store. 2. Sally thinks big-box stores encourage us to use buses. 3. Sally says big-box stores want us to walk past everything they are selling. 4. Sally says the restaurant is usually near the checkout of a big-box store. 5. Ted took his wife and children to help him look for a desk. Buy only what you need. 6. Sally advises us to make a plan before we go shopping. Choose the correct photo to answer the question. Circle its letter, A, B or C. 7. What did Ted not buy at the big-box store? A Take home what you bought. B C

3 LAAS MAY 2012 A2 LISTENING PAGE 2 LISTENING EXERCISE 2: Numbers 8 to 15 PLASTIC-CUP LAMPSHADE Choose the correct word or phrase to complete each statement. Circle its letter, A, B or C. 8. To have enough cups for the lamp, Brad says we should. A. buy new cups if necessary B. save plastic cups after we use them C. have a lot of parties very soon 9. You ll need about staples. A. 6 or 7 B. 60 or 70 C. 600 or Brad is using a lamp for his base. A. tall new B. short new C. short old Brad s unusual lampshade Cups 11. The first row of cups will form the of the lampshade. A. top B. middle C. bottom 12. The second row of cups will be the first row. A. smaller than B. bigger than C. the same size as 13. The ball-shaped lampshade will be. A. open at one end B. open at both ends C. closed at both ends You will need Stapler and staples Types of lamps 14. Brad says you may need help to. A. make a hole in the lampshade B. fasten the shade on the lamp C. choose the best lamp 15. You must be careful. A. to keep the cups away from heat B. not to get the cups wet C. to use a new light bulb Fasten the cups Here s how you make it Photos from Bit of Green Idea from the art foundation For more ideas for plastic cups Start with the middle rows

4 LAAS MAY 2012 A2 READING & USAGE PAGE 3 B READING & USAGE (50 points) You are advised to spend about 40 minutes on this part of the test. You may mark your answers on this booklet while you are working on them. Answer all the questions. Give only one answer for each question. When you have finished, mark your answers on your Answer Sheet using a 2H or HB pencil. READING & USAGE EXERCISE 1: Numbers 16 to 25 Read the text below about bears and look at the chart. Then do the exercises on page 4. BEARS: Now You See Them! Now You Don t! Of all the large animals in the world, bears are the ones most people feel closest to. Maybe that s because most of us had a teddy bear when we were young. However, bears are large and they can be dangerous. There are many stories of people being injured or even killed by bears. There are fewer bears in the world now than in the past. Their main problem is us. Our cities and highways get bigger, and the places where bears can live and find food get smaller. Some types may disappear completely. Here are some common types of bear and the problems they face. Giant Panda Giant Pandas are found only in the bamboo forests of south-central China. Pandas eat bamboo, which dies down and then grows again. The Pandas need to move from one area to another to find new bamboo that is growing. Because forests are being cut for roads and houses, that s becoming harder. China has protected Pandas for the last 10 years. Brown Bear Brown Bears live from the far north to the Mediterranean Sea. In Greece, two small groups live in the Pindos and Rodopi Mountains. Unfortunately, the Egnatia Highway runs through the Pindos area, and some bears have been hit by cars. Since 1992, bears in Greece have been protected and studied by an organization called Arcturos. Black Bear Black Bears live all over North America and normally eat plants, insects and small animals. Because people are moving into their home areas to walk, cycle, camp or build houses Black Bears have also learned to eat our food and rubbish. So, hungry bears and humans have a greater chance of a dangerous meeting. Grizzly Bear Grizzly Bears are a type of very large Brown Bear in North America. Besides the food most other bears eat, they also love fish, especially salmon. This is why they prefer areas near rivers. They like being alone and try to avoid people. Grizzlies can be very dangerous, especially if they are surprised, and so a lot of them have been shot and killed. Polar Bear Polar Bears live in the Arctic, around the North Pole, where they swim from one piece of ice to another to find food. In the last 20 years, there has been less sea ice. So, the bears have to swim longer distances. Many become tired and die. Scientists say there are fewer Polar Bears every year.

5 LAAS MAY 2012 A2 READING & USAGE PAGE 4 Use the text to decide which problem, A to F, completes the information in the chart. Mark its letter on your Answer Sheet. You will use only five of the letters. Bear Giant Panda Brown Bear Black Bear Grizzly Bear Polar Bear Usual Food Main Problem Number Alive Leaves and stems of the bamboo plant Fruit, leaves, insects, and small animals Fruit, animals or human food and rubbish Fruit, nuts, insects, small animals and fish Sea animals in winter; plants in summer wild ones in China 150 to 250 in Greece 750,000 in North America 40,000 mostly in Alaska 20,000 around Arctic Sea A. People moving into bears areas have changed their natural food. B. Cutting areas of forest keeps them from finding fresh food. C. They get tired and die while travelling long distances. D. Fast cars and lorries have killed some of them in recent years. E. An organization that that studies them does little to protect them. F. Because people are afraid of them, many have been killed. Choose the correct phrase to complete each sentence. Mark its letter, A, B or C, on your Answer Sheet. 21. The text says our ideas about bears are. A. not always completely correct B. formed by living near them C. based on a fear of big animals 22. The main problem bears face is the increase in. A. the number of bears in the world B. old factories and airports near cities C. human activity that affects their area 23. The chart tells us that all bears eat some. A. plants or fruit B. plants and small animals C. animals and humans 24. The text and chart show that most bears live in the. A. land areas near the sea B. northern half of the world C. south-central part of the world 25. The lives the farthest north. A. Brown Bear B. Polar Bear C. Black Bear

6 LAAS MAY 2012 A2 READING & USAGE PAGE 5 READING & USAGE EXERCISE 2: Numbers 26 to 35 Read this text about a way to use less petrol. Choose the correct word to fill each gap. Mark its letter, A, B or C, on your Answer Sheet. Check the Air in Your Tyres! We don t have to buy an electric car to help save the environment. There s a (26) way to save petrol and put less *CO 2 pollution into the air. And it s (27) under our cars. It s the tyres! If we keep the correct amount of air in the tyres, the car will need less petrol to drive the same (28). Bridgestone, (29) of the world s biggest tyre makers, studied 38,000 cars in nine European countries. They found that 71% of drivers didn t have as much air in their tyres as they should have. Those tyres (30) their drivers an extra 2.8 billion per year, for the extra 2 billion litres of petrol they use. For each car, that s only about 1.8 grams of petrol (31) kilometre. But when you multiply that by the all the cars on the road, that s almost 5 million tonnes of CO 2 every year. That s 5 million tonnes (32) we wouldn t put into the environment, if we checked the air in our tyres (33). Besides the environmental problem and the extra money it s costing them, these drivers may also be making the roads more (34). A car is harder to drive and it takes longer to stop when there isn t enough air in the tyres. When you think about all these together environment, cost, and safe driving it s a good idea to check the air in the tyres every time we fill (35) the petrol tank. From an article at * CO 2 = carbon dioxide, a gas that causes global warming 26. A. difficult B. simple C. surprised 27. A. rarely B. never C. right 28. A. distance B. space C. departure 29. A. one B. some C. most 30. A. charge B. cost C. spend 31. A. per B. of C. to 32. A. who B. whom C. that 33. A. generally B. usually C. regularly 34. A. smooth B. dangerous C. crowded 35. A. up B. out C. in

7 LAAS MAY 2012 A2 READING & USAGE PAGE 6 READING & USAGE EXERCISE 3: Numbers 36 to 40 WHY WAS JOHN LATE FOR SCHOOL? Match one of John s replies from the box with each of Sally s questions on the left. Mark its letter, A to F, on your Answer Sheet. You will use only five of the letters. Sally: Why were you late for school today? John: (36) Sally: I bet you missed breakfast, didn t you? John: (37) Sally: What did you do when you realised that? John: (38) Sally: So far, so good. Then what happened? John: (39) Sally: I knew it! When did the next one come? John: (40) Sally: No wonder you were late! A. I ran back home to get it, of course! B. Oh, about half an hour later. C. Well, first of all I woke up late. And then I couldn t find my socks. D. By the time I got back to the bus stop, I d missed the bus. E. I really need to try to get to bed earlier! F. No, I ate some toast as I ran to the bus stop, but I forgot to take my book bag with me. READING & USAGE EXERCISE 4: Numbers 41 to 45 JAMIE OLIVER S SCHOOL LUNCHES Put the parts of the article in the correct order. Mark the letter of each part, A to G, on your Answer Sheet. You will use only five of the letters. The first one is done for you. EX. Part 1 The answer is A. Schools, Jamie said, served... In 2005, TV chef Jamie Oliver decided it was time to improve school lunches in the UK. His reason was simple. EX. Part Part Part Part Part Part 6 A A. Schools, Jamie said, served too much fast food and not enough healthy food. B. To teach the children, he went to their classrooms. He told them that healthy food can also be delicious. Everyone enjoyed the lessons. C. But Jamie also knew that children and not just schools needed to learn about food. D. So, he suggested that they should stop serving fast food. Instead, he said, they should offer delicious meals with plenty of fresh fruit and salads. E. The TV programme was a huge success, and parents and others joined in and made the government change the meals at schools around the country. F. If they want to lose weight, children should eat plenty of hamburgers, chips and sweets. G. Some of the children from his lessons appeared on his television programme. Of course, their parents thought this was great. The Feed Me Better plan, as it was called, worked well. Some schools even found that children did better in class and in exams after their food improved. Read more at Photo Credit: ABC TV

8 LAAS MAY 2012 A2 READING & USAGE PAGE 7 READING & USAGE EXERCISE 5: Numbers 46 to 50 Each of the paragraphs in the web article has one sentence missing. Choose the correct sentence from the box to fill each gap. Mark its letter, A to F, on your Answer Sheet. You will use only five of the letters. A. You can polish shoes and silver with it. It s also good for your skin. B. Water from a small mountain stream tastes delicious. C. When we turn on the tap, clean water that is safe to drink comes out. D. What comes out of it, into the mouth, is safe, clean water. E. It doesn t have to be this way! F. If the sun is strong, it will heat the water to 50 C or more. CLEAN WATER FOR ALL! Four ways to get safe water to drink More than one billion people, one sixth of the world s population, do not have safe water to drink. About half of the world's poor suffer from diseases carried by dirty water, and, of these, over 6,000, mainly children, die each day by drinking unsafe water. (46) Life Straw This could be one of the greatest life-savers in history. It s a plastic pipe filter only 25 cm long. It has no moving parts and only needs someone strong enough to suck the water up through it. (47) Each straw costs less than 20 to make and has a life of 700 litres. That s a year of drinking water for one person. It would take less than 20 billion a year to save everyone who needs clean water! Banana Peel We used to hear jokes about people who slip on a banana peel and fall down. But, banana skin isn t really funny. There are a lot of serious uses for it. You can dig it in around rose bushes to feed them. (48) And, now, scientists have found they can cut banana peel up into tiny pieces and use it to remove dangerous metals from water. Such metals can make people very sick. The method is cheap and it works well. SODIS - The Sun in a Bottle SODIS is a simple way to make dirty water safe. Clear plastic bottles are filled with unsafe water and left in the sun. The sun and the heat it makes work together to clean the water. (49) At this temperature, it only takes about five hours to make the water safe to drink. If the sky is cloudy, it can take as long as two days. And if it rains all the time it s better to collect rainwater to drink. City Water Most towns and cities have clean water from a well, a river or a lake, like Lake Marathona near Athens. The water is cleaned with chemicals and it s sent to every home through pipes. (50) If the pipes or the factory that cleans the water are broken, many people have a problem. This doesn t happen often, but maybe it s a good idea to keep a few clean plastic bottles or some bananas just in case.

9 LAAS MAY 2012 A2 WRITING TOPICS PAGE 8 C WRITING (25 points) You are advised to spend about 30 minutes on this part of the test. You may use a blank sheet of paper as a draft. Write your task in the space provided on the back of your Answer Sheet in blue or black pen. You have ONE writing task to do. Choose either Topic A or Topic B. Write your task in about 120 words on your Answer Sheet. TOPIC A: You ve heard about a summer camp that helps younger children with their school work. The camp needs older students to help the younger ones. It doesn t pay anything, but you re a good student, and you d like to help. Write an to the head teacher at the camp. Be sure to: say why you want to help say what you think you could do ask for more information about the camp TOPIC B: Who is the newest friend you ve made? Can you describe him or her? What did you expect your friend to be like? Did he or she turn out to be as you expected? Write a description of the friend you ve made most recently. Be sure to say: your friend s name and what he or she looks like how you met this new friend what you expected him or her to be like whether your friend is what you expected

10 [A2 LISTENING TEST 12A] Scripts 1 SHOPPING IN A BIG-BOX STORE 2 PLASTIC- CUP LAMPSHADE ANNC LAAS Listening Test, May Copyright, Panhellenic Federation of Foreign Language Centre Owners, Athens, Greece. [intro music] ANNC Hello, students. This is your A2 Listening test. Before we start, please make sure that your name and code number are on the front of your Test Booklet. [5 sec]

11 [A2-1 SHOPPING IN A BIG-BOX STORE] ANNC Now, open your Test Booklet. As you listen, write your answers in this Test Booklet. At the end of the test, you will have time to mark your answers on the computerised Answer Sheet. Now, let's go on. Look at Listening Exercise ONE. In this exercise you will hear a radio programme about shopping in a big-box store. First, take a short time to look at Listening Exercise ONE in your Test Booklet. [20 sec] ANNC Good. You will hear Ted Smith as he interviews shopping expert, Sally Kane. As you listen to the conversation, decide if each statement, 1 to 6, is true or not. Write A for True or B for False in the space beside each number. Then choose the correct photo to answer question number 7. Circle its letter, A, B or C, in your Test Booklet. [music] Now, here is the conversation. Are you ready? TED Have you ever been shopping in a huge superstore? They re sometimes called big-box stores and shopping in them can be a lot of fun, or it can be a disaster. My last trip, to find a desk for my home office, was a disaster. So I asked Sally Kane, a shopping advisor, to tell us how to shop in a big-box store. Sally? SALLY Well, Ted, we need to remember that big-box stores encourage us to buy lots of things. First of all, they have huge car parks. As we all know, you can carry a lot more home in a car than you can on a bus. TED True! And that car park was so big, I got tired walking from my car to the front door of the shop. And then I got even more tired before I found the desk department. SALLY Because you had to walk a long distance inside the store. Have you ever noticed, you can only get to that desk you do want to buy after walking past all the candles and picture frames and towels, that you don t want? TED Yes, you re right. I had to walk from one room to the next, up and down stairs. SALLY And that s no accident. The store wants you to go past everything they sell, so you go in one door, walk through the whole store, and finally, out at the checkout. TED I didn t find a desk that I wanted, but I did go to the restaurant, and after that, I bought some candles, three beach towels, and some pots for the patio. SALLY Had you planned to buy those things? TED Um, no. SALLY So, you failed to find a desk, but you felt better because you d bought the towels. TED You re right! And because I d sat down to rest and had a bite to eat. Big-box stores always have restaurants, don t they?

12 SALLY Almost always, yes, and the restaurant is usually in the middle of the store. You have a little break and then buy a few little things as you walk out through the other half of the store. TED That s exactly what I did! SALLY And I imagine you had your family with you, right? TED No, not this time, but they love going there. SALLY But, shopping s not a family picnic. When you re trying to decide what to buy, or not to buy especially big, expensive things you need to think carefully. If you have a lot of people with you, it s hard to think. TED That s right! So, any last words of advice, Sally? SALLY Well, yes. Before you go shopping, think about what you want to buy and how much you want to spend on it. And if you don t find what you want in one shop, keep your money until you find what you want somewhere else. [music] TED Good advice! And maybe one day, I ll find that desk I was looking for. [fade] Thanks for coming in today and talking to us. ANNC Now take a short time to look at your answers. Then you will hear the conversation again. [15 sec] ANNC Now, here is the conversation again. Are you ready? [repeat Have you ever been... to... in today and talking to us.'] ANNC That's the end of the first exercise. Take a short time to finish your answers. [15 sec] [A2-2 PLASTIC-CUP LAMPSHADE]

13 430 wds [20 sec] ANNC In this exercise, you will hear a talk by an art teacher. [20 sec] Before you listen, take a short time to look at Listening Exercise TWO in your Test Booklet. ANNC Good. Brad Baker, an art teacher, is talking about how to make a lamp cover from plastic cups. As you listen to the talk, choose the correct word or phrase to complete each statement, 8 to 15. Circle its letter, A, B or C, in your Test Booklet. Now, here is the talk. Are you ready? [music] BRAD I m going to show you a clever idea I saw at the art foundation in Athens. It s a lampshade, that is, a cover for a lamp, made from plastic cups. You ll need about 200 cups. So, after parties and picnics, just wash the cups you ve used and save them till you have enough. Besides the plastic cups, you ll need about 6 or 7 hundred staples to hold the cups together. And a stapler like my little red one here. You ll also need a lamp. That includes the base for the light bulb and the wire and the plug. You can use a new lamp or parts from an old lamp. I'm using a short old lamp I had at home, because I'm going to put my finished lamp on a table. This lampshade will be in the shape of a large ball. To start, staple two cups together, with one staple near the open ends, and another near the middle of the cups. Add another cup, and staple again. Keep stapling till they form a full circle. This first row will be the middle of the ball, so it s the largest. Then you add a second row of cups. As you add more rows, you ll fit each new cup between cups in the row before. So each new row you add will be a bit smaller than the one before it. Fasten all the cups together in the same way. That is, a staple near the top, and one near the middle. Keep stapling until you ve made half of the ball. Leave a little opening at the end of this half. Now, turn it over and add rows from the middle again, to make a full, round ball shape. This time, when you reach the last row, close the end completely. Next, we put the lamp through the hole in the lampshade. Each lamp is a bit different, and it may be a bit difficult to find the best way to fasten the lampshade to it. So get your parents to help you. As you put the lampshade on the lamp, it s important to make sure the plastic isn t too close to the light bulb. The light bulb will get hot when you turn it on. And, if plastic gets hot, it may smell bad or burn. We don t want that! Well, that s it. Set the lamp on a table or on the floor. It s really beautiful and unusual, isn t it? [fade] Are you ready to make one of these lampshades for your

14 home? [music] ANNC Now take a short time to look at your answers. Then you will hear the talk again. [15 sec] ANNC Now, here is the talk again. Are you ready? [repeat from I m going to show... to... for your home?'] ANNC That's the end of the second exercise. Take a short time to finish your answers. [15 sec] ANNC That's the end of the listening test. You now have a short time to mark your answers on the computerized Answer Sheet. Mark them in pencil. Thank you. [exit music]

15 ΕΞΕΤΑΣΕΙΣ LAAS - ΜΑΙΟΣ 2012 ΛΥΣΕΙΣ ΑΓΓΛΙΚΩΝ A2-BASIC Parts A & B 1 A 41 D 2 B 42 C 3 A 43 B 4 B 44 G 5 B 45 E 6 A 46 E 7 A 47 D 8 B 48 A 9 C 49 F 10 C 50 C 11 B 12 A 13 A 14 B 15 A 16 B 17 D 18 A 19 F 20 C 21 A 22 C 23 A 24 B 25 B 26 B 27 C 28 A 29 A 30 B 31 A 32 C 33 C 34 B 35 A 36 C 37 F 38 A 39 D 40 B