Felicia Leonardi/ XII IPS 2/ 07

LISTENING SECTION SKILL GRADE XII

Unit 3 Controversial Issues
Task 2. Listen to the text about homework. Then, decide whether these statements are true (T)
or false (F) and on Task 3, answer the questions.

Giving Students Homework; Pro and Con

There are a lot of discussions as to whether students should be given homework or not. Is it enough
for students having time to study at school or needing additional time at home to learn after school?
Some people claim that students do enough work at school. They also argue that students have
their hobbies which they want to do after school, such as sport or music. They say that a lot of
homeworks are pointless and do not help the students learn significantly.
However, there are also strong arguments against this point of view. Parents and teachers argue
that it is important to find out whether students can work on their own without the support from the
teacher. They say that the evening is a good time for students to sit down and learn about what they
have studied at school.
Furthermore, they claim that the school day is too short to get anything done. It makes sense to give
more assignments like independent reading or further writing which do not need the teacher support.
I think giving homework is a good idea but not so many, remembering that students may have
more homework from the other teachers.

State True or False of the following Sentences and answer these questions!
1. It is has a positive and negative point of view of giving home work . True
2. It is not useful to have a homework for students after school. False
3. Only parents can support the students to have a homework . False
4. Why do homework is really important for students ?
I don’t say its important but the text said that its teachers way to test their student skill, to see
how they work on their own without the support from the teacher.
5. What is the negative side of giving homework for students?
Some student have their hobby which they want to do after school, and sometimes student
may have other homework from the other teachers so it could burden the student.

Task 4. Listen to the dialog. Then, answer the questions.

Dialogue 1
Anna : Hi, Ben! Why do you look so worried?
Ben : Oh, it’s nothing at all, I just don’t feel well.
Anna : Come on, Ben, why don’t you tell me?
Ben : Oh, Anna. You know it.
Anna : It’s about Susan, our new classmate, am I right?
Ben : Absolutely right. I’m just wondering if she knows that I love her so much
Anna : Don’t worry. I’ll find the way to know her feeling about you
Ben : What do you mean? Don’t make something embarrassing me, Anna.
Anna : What are you embarrassed about?
Ben : I’m afraid she will keep away from me if she knows my feeling.
Anna : Calm down, Ben. She is such a good girl, she‘ll never do that to you. Believe in me.
Ben : Thank you Anna, I feel better now.
Answer these questions below correctly !
1. What is Ben’s feeling to Susan ?
He love her so much.
2. …Believe me. ( Anna tells to Ben ). The underlined words has similar to….
Trust me

Dialogue 2
Dini : Hi, Vera, why do you look so sad?
Vera : Oh, really? Well, I need someone to talk to.
Dini : Is there something bothering you?
Vera : Uhm, my sister is sick, and it’s because of me.
Dini : How could it be?
Vera : I gave her a hamburger I bought at school yesterday, after that she got a stomachache. I feel
guilty.
Dini : Really?
Vera : I wonder if she gets better now.
Dini : I think there’s nothing wrong with the hamburger, I bought and ate it yesterday, but I’m
alright.
Vera : Are you sure? So, is it not your fault?
Dini : Yeah, just give her some rest; I hope she’ll get better soon.
Vera : Oh, I hope so. Thank you.
Answer these questions below correctly !
1. Mention the expression of sympathy from the dialogue above !
When Vera said I gave her a hamburger I bought at school yesterday, after that she got a
stomachache. I feel guilty.
2. I feel guilty. ( Vera said ). The synonym of the underlined words is…
I feel bad

Task 5. You are going to hear a monolog of a discussion text. Listen to the text carefully. Then
answer the questions, and on task 6, according to the text, decide whether the following
statements are true (T) or false (F)
Abortion: Pros and Cons
First of all, I would like to thank the organizing committee for giving me the opportunity to say a
few words at this seminar. In this occasion, I’d like to speak about “Abortion: pro and contra”.
As you see, there has been a great deal of discussion on the problem of abortion in this country
and abroad. The discussion includes: Is abortion legal or illegal? Is abortion morally justified or not?
But in this discussion I would like to talk from another point of view.
To begin with, let me say that abortion is one of the methods of birth control.
Let’s see the fact about the population problem in a country. When a country faces the problems of
population explosion, the government should find methods to solve it. But since there are no
methods of contraception that is one hundred percent effective and successful, abortion becomes the
only way out when prevention fails.
On the other hand, abortion may cause many negative effects for woman’s health. Women risk
their health and live in bearing the weight of the operation and its consequences. The most common
complications are inflammation, interruption of menstrual patterns, infertility, endometrioses,
myoma of the uterus and many other kind of ovary illness.
So far, abortion becomes a dilemma for countries with a large number of citizens. On one hand, it
controls the birthrate but on the other hand, it brings terrible consequences, especially for the woman
health.
State True or False of the following Sentences and answer these questions!
1. There is no effect for women’s health in doing abortion . False
2. One way To decrease the birth rate is abortion . True
3. What are the impact of abortion for women ?
The most common complications are inflammation, interruption of menstrual patterns,
infertility, endometrioses, myoma of the uterus and many other kind of ovary illness.

Task 7. Listen to the text carefully to fill in the blanks.

National Exam in Pros and Cons
National exam becomes the hot topic in most of discussions. though (1) the Supreme Court has
rejected an appeal ( 2) by the government on the organization of the national exams, the controversy
over whether it is necessary to maintain the national exams (UN) has continued. Some debates
include the primary questions such as; does the quality of Indonesia education depend (3) the
national exam? Will the quality of the Indonesian education system worse (4) without national
exam?
People, who support the national exam, explain that the quality of the Indonesian education
system will drop without the national exam, so they try to defend (5) the current system.
However there are people who disagree with the opinion. Those who against this national exam
kept in our high school education say that it doesn’t need the national exams because the quality of
education does not just depend on the national exam. Further, the national exam only measures a
small portion of students’ competence in specific subjects, and does not measure students’
competence a throughout ( 6 ) the semester.
In fact, the national examination can still be useful as an instrument to evaluate or detect (7) the
level of students’ Cognitive (8) competence in several subjects, on a national scale.