IELTS Listening · Lesson 12 of 13
Plan and map labelling
Follow a speaker around a building or a map. Learn the language of directions and position, and how to find your starting point.
In this lesson you will
- practise the language of directions and position
- find your starting point and orient yourself on a plan
- label a plan of a building while you follow a guided tour
The question type
What is plan and map labelling?
You label a visual while a speaker describes it. The visual may be a plan of a building, a map of part of a town, a diagram of a piece of equipment or a set of pictures. You usually choose the labels from a list of options (A, B, C…), and some options are not used. The labels follow the order of the recording.
To do this well you need to know where the tour starts and follow the speaker's directions.
Language of directions
Match each expression with its meaning.
- opposite
- just beyond
- next door to
- carry straight on
- on the far wall
- turn sharp right
Other useful expressions: go past, go through, on your left / right, at the end of, in front of you, behind, in the corner, between, to the north / south of (on maps). You practised many of these for maps in Writing Task 1.
A tour of the town library
You will hear the librarian of a new town library talking to a group of people who are visiting the library.
Transcript (check it after you answer)
AnnOK everyone. So here we are at the entrance to the town library. My name is Ann, and I'm the chief librarian here, and you'll usually find me at the desk just by the main entrance here. So I'd like to tell you a bit about the way the library is organised, and what you'll find where, and you should all have a plan in front of you.
AnnWell, as you see, my desk is just on your right as you go in, and opposite this, the first room on your left has an excellent collection of reference books, and is also a place where people can read or study peacefully. Just beyond the librarian's desk on the right is a room where we have up-to-date periodicals such as newspapers and magazines, and this room also has a photocopier in case you want to copy any of the articles.
AnnIf you carry straight on, you'll come into a large room, and this is the main library area. There is fiction on the shelves on the left, and non-fiction materials on your right, and on the shelves on the far wall there is an excellent collection of books relating to local history. We're hoping to add a section on local tourist attractions too, later in the year.
AnnThrough the far door in the library, just past the fiction shelves, is a seminar room, and that can be booked for meetings or talks, and next door to that is the children's library, which has a good collection of stories and picture books for the under-elevens. Then there's a large room to the right of the library area. That's the multimedia collection, where you can borrow videos and DVDs and so on, and we also have CD-ROMs you can borrow to use on your computer at home. It was originally the art collection, but that's been moved to another building.
AnnAnd that's about it. Oh, there's also the library office, on the left of the librarian's desk. OK, now does anyone have any questions?
Questions 11–15
Label the plan below. Choose FIVE answers from the box and write the correct letter, A–I, next to questions 11–15.
- A Art collection
- B Children's books
- C Computers
- D Local history collection
- E Meeting room
- F Multimedia
- G Periodicals
- H Reference books
- I Tourist information
Before you play the recording: find the entrance and imagine you are standing there, facing into the building.
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 11 H “…opposite this [the desk], the first room on your left has an excellent collection of reference books”
- 12 G “Just beyond the librarian's desk on the right is a room where we have up-to-date periodicals”
- 13 D “…on the shelves on the far wall there is an excellent collection of books relating to local history”
- 14 B “…a seminar room… and next door to that is the children's library”
- 15 F “…a large room to the right of the library area: that's the multimedia collection”
Distractors: tourist information (I) is only a plan for “later in the year”; the art collection (A) “has been moved to another building”; the seminar room “can be booked for meetings”, but it is already labelled, so meeting room (E) is not used. Computers (C) are only mentioned as “your computer at home”.
Check your orientation
- The speaker says “my desk is just on your right as you go in”. Where are you standing?
- In the main library area, the far wall is…
Left and right depend on which way you are facing. Always find where the speaker is standing, and move around the plan with them.
Strategy summary
- Study the visual. What is it: a plan, a map or a diagram? Read every label that is already there.
- Find the starting point (often an entrance, or a You are here mark) and decide which way you are facing.
- Follow the question numbers on the visual. The labels come in the order you hear them.
- Read the options and think of words the speaker might use for them.
- Listen for direction and position language and move around the visual with the speaker.
- Watch for distractors: things that used to be there, or are planned for the future.
Activities adapted from Cambridge English IELTS teaching activities (© UCLES 2009) and British Council IELTS teaching materials.