NAME... LAAS LANGUAGE ATTAINMENT ASSESSMENT SYSTEM Level A2 ENGLISH LANGUAGE EXAMINATIONS Certificate Recognised by ICC DECEMBER 2009 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
PALSO LAAS DECEMBER 2006A 2009 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 8 EURO COIN COLLECTION CLUB Choose the correct word, phrase or picture to complete each sentence, 1 to 4. Circle its letter, A, B or C. 1. There are now students in the coin collecting club at Jack and Ellen s school. A. two B. three C. five 2. The members of the club collect. A. just six of the euro coins B. all eight euro coins C. fifty different coins 3. The coins that Joe Bain finds difficult to use are. A. B. C. 4. The front side of euro coins. A. is the same for all countries in the European Union B. has pictures of famous people and buildings C. shows a different number for each country Decide if statements 5 to 8 are true or not. Write A for True or B for False in the space beside each number. 5. A full collection may have almost 170 coins in it. 6. Jack and Ellen have to travel a lot to collect all the coins. 7. Jack and Ellen look for euro coins when they buy things in the shops. 8. Coin club members share extra coins with each other.
LAAS DECEMBER 2009 A2 LISTENING PAGE 2 LISTENING EXERCISE 2: Numbers 9 to 15 HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS Choose the correct phrase to complete each statement. Circle its letter, A, B or C. 9. John is calling because. A. he s going to move house soon B. he doesn t have any friends C. it s hard for him to talk 10. John s brother. A. is older than him B. isn t allowed to go out C. doesn t go to the same school 11. John wants to. A. go out with a friend B. change schools C. go to a café with his brother 12. Because he doesn t talk to friends on the phone, John. A. has problems with his school work B. stays at school later than others C. studies more and gets good marks 13. Dr. Carter tells John to. A. join a club B. start a sports team C. stay at home more 14. John may make new friends if he. A. is nicer to his teachers B. does well in tests C. helps others to study 15. Dr. Carter s most important idea is for John to. A. say strange things B. smile and be friendly C. only talk to people he knows
LAAS DECEMBER 2009 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 this magazine story about cars of the future. Then do the exercises on page 4. CARS OF THE FUTURE In the future, cars won t run on petrol. How soon? Well, that s hard to say. But, nowadays, people are looking for cars that don t need petrol. Petrol is expensive, and it makes smoke that s bad for us to breathe and bad for nature, too. Also, we use so much petrol that in a few years, there won t be any left. The good news is that some cars already use other kinds of fuel, and there are new ideas every day. So, in a few years, we may see many different types of cars on the road. They will be better for nature than the ones we have now. Electric Cars Gas Cars About 30 years ago, some car companies started making electric cars. The cars didn t go very fast or very far, but they were good for nature. Still, not many people wanted them, so the car companies didn t make very many. Now, the electric idea is back again. If we can make electricity from the sun or the wind, then electric cars can be both cheap and clean. We can plug the car in at night and drive it again the next day. Another idea is a car that runs on hydrogen* gas. When we burn hydrogen, we don t get smoke. We get water! Imagine that! A German company has made 100 hydrogen cars for people to try. Another company in England will be ready to sell their cars by 2012. Of course, they ll need hydrogen stations everywhere, just as we have petrol stations now. They ll have to make it easy to find fuel or people won t buy gas cars. * hydrogen = υδρόγονο Water Cars Someday, we may even have cars that use water. A few people have been experimenting with this idea, but it s not ready yet. But think about it. First you wash your car, and then you fill it up, and then you water the garden! Plant Cars Two new fuels come from vegetables. There s one called ethanol. It s made from corn. This isn t such a good idea, because corn is food and people need to eat. But we can make ethanol from other plants, or the parts of plants we don t eat. The other new fuel is called bio-diesel. We can make it from plant oils or cooking oil after we finish frying our potatoes. We can mix bio-diesel with regular petrol. It s cleaner and cheaper. Several companies here in Greece already make it.
LAAS DECEMBER 2009 A2 READING & USAGE PAGE 4 Choose the correct phrase to complete each sentence, 16 to 22. Mark its letter, A, B or C, on your Answer Sheet. 16. We may not use petrol cars in the future because. A. they re dirty and expensive B. people will have to look for them C. we ll have more petrol than we need A 17. Companies didn t make many electric cars at first because. A. people drove them too fast B. they weren t good for nature C. they were not very popular 18. Electric cars will be a good idea if. A. we use the sun or wind to make electricity B. they cost too much for many people to buy C. people only drive them at night B 19. The hydrogen gas car seems a good idea, but. A. no one knows how to make one B. there won t be any for at least 10 years C. it will only be used if fuel is easy to find 20. A car that runs on water. A. is already for sale B. is not ready to sell yet C. needs special water to run C 21. The problem with corn ethanol is. A. it is made from food B. it comes from leaves we can t eat C. people may try to eat it 22. Bio-diesel is made from. A. fried potatoes B. used cooking oil C. regular petrol D Match a picture to each description below. Mark its letter next to the number on your Answer Sheet. You will use only three of the pictures. 23. Shai connects his car when he gets home from work. 24. Angela fills up her gas car in Germany. 25. Dionysis pours the first pan of oil at his new bio-diesel factory.
LAAS DECEMBER 2008 2009 A2 READING & USAGE PAGE 55 READING & USAGE EXERCISE 2: Numbers 26 to 35 Read this text about boys and girls. Choose the correct word or phrase to fill each gap. Mark its letter, A, B or C, on your Answer Sheet. BOYS and GIRLS For most of history, we have _(26)_ boys and girls different things, so they could be successful men and women. Long ago, mothers _(27)_ after the young children, and men had to protect them and _(28)_ out to find animals to eat. So, little girls learned to be kind and boys learned to be strong and brave. However, things have changed a _(29)_ since the days _(30)_ people lived in caves. Nowadays, most men work _(31)_ shops, offices, and factories, or on ships and farms. Women may work there, too. In some families, the father watches the children if the mother earns good money outside the home. In others, both parents _(32)_ the work. Many modern parents try to prepare _(33)_ children for this new situation. They encourage their girls to play football and learn maths, and they let their boys cook and play with dolls. Someday, their daughters may be athletes or professors and their sons _(34)_ own restaurants or write children s books. Girls and boys both have more choices _(35)_ they used to have. 26. A. taught B. teaching C. teach 27. A. look B. looked C. will look 28. A. go B. going C. gone 29. A. many B. lot C. lots 30. A. when B. who C. how 31. A. to B. by C. in 32. A. share B. sharing C. to share 33. A. her B. his C. their 34. A. have to B. may C. should 35. A. that B. than C. then
LAAS DECEMBER 2009 A2 READING & USAGE PAGE 6 READING & USAGE EXERCISE 3: Numbers 36 to 40 WHEN IT RAINS Match a reply from the box with each question on the left. Mark its letter, A to F, on your Answer Sheet. You will use only five of the letters. Jim: What do you do when it rains? Pam: (36) Jim: Fine! But what if you have to go out? Pam: (37) Jim: Has the rain ever come into your house? Pam: (38) Jim: What a mess! Do you think it ll happen again? Pam: (39) Jim: Well, I hope they did a good job! Pam: (40) Jim: Why wait? Just throw some water on the door! That way you can see if it comes in. READING & USAGE EXERCISE 4: Numbers 41 to 45 MARY S LETTER ABOUT HOLIDAY PLANS Put the parts of the letter 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. First of all, I m sorry I haven t written for a long time. I ve been so busy! A. I hope not. We ve had the door repaired. B. Yes, that s happened. Once, during a bad storm, water ran under the door, 1 cm deep! C. Then, I carry an umbrella. D. Oh, there were chairs and tables everywhere! E. So do I! But, we ll have to wait until the next storm to see if the rain comes in. F. Well, I stay inside if I can. Dear Aunt Margaret, EX. Part 1 A 41. Part 2 42. Part 3 43. Part 4 44. Part 5 45. Part 6 A. First of all, I m sorry I haven t written for a long time. I ve been so busy! B. I m really excited about this, because I haven t seen you for such a long time. Well, also, I love the roast lamb you always make! C. I think she ll be happy with the skirt I got for her. It s a lovely purple colour with large buttons on the front. D. However, Mum has just told me that we re coming to visit you during the winter holiday. E. I hope you ll let me help you make it, because I really want to learn how. Mum says I m old enough to learn to cook a few things. F. Please let me know what he wants for a present. I know he likes music, so maybe I can buy him a CD. G. I also want to see Richard while we re there. We always have a lot of fun playing with his computer. Will he be home from university? Well, I have to do my homework. So, bye for now!
LAAS DECEMBER 2009 A2 READING & USAGE PAGE 7 READING & USAGE EXERCISE 5: Numbers 46 to 50 FAVOURITE SPORTS A Match a picture with each of the descriptions. Mark its letter, A to D, on your Answer Sheet. You will use some letters more than once. 46. I do my sport all year round. In the summer, it s such good fun! I love it, out there, all alone on the water. It s great! In the winter, I wear a special suit, made of nylon, to keep dry. But the wind is strong and I can really get some good practice! 47. I felt like a fool when I was a beginner. I couldn t keep one foot off the other and I fell a lot. I always seemed to have snow inside my jacket! But, I stayed at it and improved a lot. Now, I m practising for a downhill race next month. You have to turn quickly, and sometimes jump up over small hills. I think I may win, though. 48. When I first went to the class, an older boy tried to make me fight with the others. That s called sparring. I never liked it much. Once, I hit a boy, by accident, and made his nose bleed. I almost quit going to lessons. But the teacher suggested I change classes. I m very glad I did! 49. I take my board to school and use it on the way home. Then, my friends and I go out every Saturday. There are some good squares around town, with steps and benches to jump over. We try harder and harder moves, like jumping up and turning in the air. 50. Most sports have competitions and you have to practise very hard to get ready. Mine is difficult, because I can only do it for part of the year, when there s snow. The rest of the time, I have to do other training. It s important to keep my legs strong. So, I go running every day for at least an hour. I also go to the gym. When the weather gets cold again, I go back out to the mountain and the practice gets serious. B C D
LAAS DECEMBER 2009 A2 WRITING 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. Choose ONE of these two topics. Do the task in about 120 words. TOPIC A: You are going to visit your relatives next weekend. You want to tell your friend about what you think will happen. Write an email to your friend. Tell him or her: where you are going and who you will visit what you plan to do while you are there whether or not you are looking forward to it OR TOPIC B: When you were on your way to school, you saw something very strange. Write a story about what happened. Your story can be funny or serious.
1 [A2 LISTENING TEST 09B] Scripts 1 EURO COIN COLLECTION CLUB 2 HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS LAAS Listening Test, December 2009. Copyright, Panhellenic Federation of Foreign Language Centre Owners, Athens, Greece. [intro music] 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]
2 [A2-1 EURO COIN COLLECTION CLUB] 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, A. [15 sec] Now, let's go on. Look at Listening Exercise ONE. In this exercise, you will hear a radio programme about coin collecting. First, take a short time to look at Listening Exercise ONE in your Test Booklet. Good. You will hear the host, Joe Bain, talking to two students about their hobby, coin collecting, and about their new club at school. As you listen to the conversation, choose the correct word, phrase or picture to complete each statement, 1 to 4. Circle its letter, A, B or C, in your Test Booklet. Then, go on and decide if statements 5 to 8 are true or not. Write A for True or B for False in the space beside each number. Now, here is the programme. Are you ready? Today, we have two students who share an interesting hobby. Ellen, you collect coins, am I right? Yes, but not all coins. Just euros. And now we ve started a club at our school. Jack, are there just the two of you in the club? No, there are three other students at our school, so, five of us, and we hope others will join. But, why have a club when there are so few euro coins? I mean, there are only what? six of them? No, there are eight coins in total. We collect all of them. The three dark orange ones are the one, two and five-cent coins. And three gold-coloured ones: the ten, twenty and fifty-cent coins. Those twenty- and fifty-cent gold coins give me problems! I have to look very closely to make sure which one I have! Yes, it is hard, because they re almost the same size. It s easier with the one and two-euro coins. They re quite different sizes and colours. Right. No problem with the largest two. Now, Ellen, tell me why you need to have a club to collect just eight coins. Well, that s the interesting part. You see, the coins come from each country in the European Union. Now, the front sides are the same for all countries. They have a map and a big number that shows what they re worth.
3 Right. But the backs of the coins are different for each country, with pictures of famous people from that country s history. Or they might use famous buildings or pieces of art. So, let me see, you have eight basic coins from how many countries? Well, 21 countries in Europe use the euro, so 21 sets. That s almost 170 coins. That s quite a large collection! And how do you find them? Do you have to travel? No, not really. People carry euros with them when they travel around Europe. So, coins from the other countries come here. So you have to look for them. Every time you buy a pencil or get change at the bakery, you look to see if there s one you haven t got. But if everyone knows you collect, they ll save coins for you. Except Mrs. Pappas at my bakery. She s started collecting now, so she only gives me the ones she already has. But that s the idea of the club. If I have an extra coin, that is, two of a coin that Ellen doesn t have, I can give one to her. And she shares her extras with me. Only if it s new and shiny, Jack! [laughing] Of course! Only the best ones for you, Ellen! Well, thanks to both of you. [fade] It sounds like fun! I may start coin collecting myself. Now take a short time to look at your answers. Then you will hear the conversation again. [15 sec] Now, here is the programme again. Are you ready? [repeat from Today, we have two students... to... start coin collecting myself.'] That's the end of the first exercise. Take a short time to finish your answers. [15 sec]
4 [A2-2 HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS] Carter = older female, interviewer John = teen male In this exercise you will hear a radio programme about how to make friends. Before you listen, take a short time to look at the questions for Listening Exercise TWO in your Test Booklet. [15 sec] Good. You will hear Dr. Carter, the host. She's talking to John, a young student, about how to make friends. As you listen to the programme, choose the correct phrase to complete each statement, 9 to 15. Circle its letter, A, B or C, in your Test Booklet. Now, here is the radio programme. Are you ready? And our next caller is John. Hi, John! How can I help you? Hi, Dr. Carter. Well, we moved to this town about a year ago, and, it s hard to say, but, well, I still don t have any friends. That s a shame, John. What s the worst thing about not having any friends? Well, first of all, I don t have anyone to have fun with. So, if I want to go to the cinema or a café, I have to go with my brother. That doesn t sound so bad. You like him, don t you? Yes, but I m 14 and he s only 9. So, we can t talk about people at school. We re in different schools. You know. Yes, I see. So, you need a friend to go out with. And I d like to have someone to call after school. All the other kids do. They spend hours on the phone. And all you do is study? John, you must be a good student. Yes, I am. I get very good marks. But, I m really lonely and I don t have any fun. What can I do? Well, we usually tell young people to join a group or a team. Do you like sport? Or, what do you like to do? I like to walk outdoors. Hmm. Is there a nature club at your school? Maybe you can join it. Mm, maybe.
5 And here s another idea. If you re a good student, you can help other students. Ask your teacher. Someone may want a study helper before a test. I could do that! I m very good at maths. Great! So, ask your teacher. And here s my last idea. I think it s very important. Say hello and smile at people. Even people I don t know? Yes. When you walk towards someone outside, before school starts, or in the hall smile. Look right at the person and smile. And say hi. Won t they think it s strange? Not at all. It s friendly. And if you make others feel good, they ll like you. Later, you can say something else to them. Start a conversation. Very soon, you ll have lots of people to say hi to, and, from among them, you ll find a few good friends. Well, I don t know about that. But I ll try your ideas. Thanks. And thanks [fade] for calling, John. Now take a short time to look at your answers. Then you will hear the conversation again. [15 sec] Now, here is the programme again. Are you ready? [repeat And our next caller is John.... to... for calling, John.'] That's the end of the second exercise. Take a short time to finish your answers. [15 sec] That's the end of the listening test. You now have a short time to mark your answers on the computerized Answer Sheet, A. Mark them in pencil. Thank you. [exit music]
ΕΞΕΤΑΣΕΙΣ LAAS - ΔΕΚΕΜΒΡΙΟΣ 2009 ΛΥΣΕΙΣ ΑΓΓΛΙΚΩΝ A2- BASIC Part A & B 1 C 41 D 2 B 42 B 3 B 43 E 4 A 44 G 5 A 45 F 6 B 46 B 7 A 47 A 8 A 48 D 9 B 49 C 10 C 50 A 11 A 12 C 13 A 14 C 15 B 16 A 17 C 18 A 19 C 20 B 21 A 22 B 23 C 24 A 25 B 26 A 27 B 28 A 29 B 30 A 31 C 32 A 33 C 34 B 35 B 36 F 37 C 38 B 39 A 40 E