3.1 Listening Tarea 1: Six Short Conversations with Picture Options

Quick Focus: Listening Tarea 1 has six short face-to-face conversations (items 1–6). After each conversation you answer one question by choosing among three pictures (A, B, C). Each conversation is 50–80 words long and is played twice. The official skill tested is understanding the main ideas of short informal conversations.

What the Official Specification Says

In the official model recording, each conversation follows the same pattern:

1. The narrator introduces the situation (Va a escuchar a un hombre que habla con su médica).
2. The conversation plays.
3. After a 5-second pause, the conversation is repeated together with the question.
4. The narrator reads the question aloud (Conteste a la pregunta número dos: ¿Qué le duele al hombre?) and you get about 10 seconds to choose.
5. After item 6: Complete ahora la Hoja de respuestas, with 30 seconds to transfer.

Two practical consequences follow. First, the question is printed above the three pictures in your booklet (for example, 1. ¿Qué tiene ya el hombre?), so read it and look at the pictures before the conversation starts; the narrator reads it again after the second listening. Second, use the introduction sentence. It tells you who is speaking and where, which predicts the vocabulary you'll hear.

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How the Pictures Work

The three pictures usually show objects or actions from the same category: three appliances, three parts of the body, three drinks, three means of transport. All three are often mentioned in the conversation, so hearing a word is not enough. You must know what happens to each item.

In the model exam, a man shopping for his new home mentions dishwashers, washing machines and microwaves:

• the dishwasher is not cheaper today, so he will buy it another day;
• the washing machines are on offer, so he decides to look at them;
• he says microondas tengo uno nuevo.

The question is ¿Qué tiene ya el hombre? ("What does the man already have?"). The answer is the microwave, even though the washing machine is the item he wants to buy. Read the question word carefully: tiene ya, va a comprar, le duele, prefiere and no puede each point to a different item.

Before the audio: study the pictures

While the instructions play, read each question and look at its three images. Ask yourself:

• What category is this? (clothes, food, rooms, transport, symptoms)
• What is the difference between the three? (colour, size, object, action, place)
• What Spanish words will name them? Think of lavadora, lavaplatos, microondas, not their English equivalents.

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The Main Trap: The Speaker Changes or Rejects an Option

Short conversations at A2 rarely say the answer only once. The typical sequence is:

1. First idea: Quería el jersey verde del escaparate…
2. Problem or reconsideration: …pero hace calor para lana.
3. Final choice: Mejor me llevo la chaqueta azul.

Learn the phrases that signal a change:

Negation is the second trap. No ponemos cepillo de dientes, solo gel y champú (model exam example) means the room has shampoo but no toothbrush. Candidates who hear cepillo de dientes and stop listening choose the wrong picture.

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Frequent Situations and Vocabulary

The medical dialogue in the model exam is a good example of distractors: the man's neck and back are an old problem, he thought the pain came from swimming, and he usually exercises his legs by playing football. The question asks what hurts now: el brazo derecho.

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Method for Each Conversation

1. Before: read the printed question and the situation line, then compare the three pictures. Name each one in Spanish.
2. First listening: follow the whole exchange. Note which items are rejected, postponed or already owned.
3. Second listening: confirm the item that the question asks about. Pay special attention to ya, no, también, otro día, al final.
4. Mark it: choose in the booklet, then transfer to the answer sheet when the narrator gives the 30-second window.

Common Mistakes

• Choosing the first item mentioned.
• Answering a different question from the one asked (for example, choosing what the man will buy when the question asks what he already has).
• Losing time on one item. After the question is read you have only about 10 seconds, so make your best choice and move on; there is no penalty for a wrong answer.