Sample Task PTS-003_C
Describe a childhood song that you still remember.
* how you learned this song
* when and where you learned it
* what the song is about
and explain how you felt when you used to sing this song.
ATTEMPT 1
ATTEMPT 1 Transcript
Sample Task PTS-003_C
Describe a childhood song that you still remember.
Right, let me start.
I’ve chosen to tell you about
a catchy kids’ tune from my childhood
that I happen to remember very well
despite the fact
that I haven’t sung it
for many years.
You should say
* how you learned this song – * when and
AS TO the way and time I learned it,
I’d say that I did it by singing along with
older children on New Year’s Eve.
* where you learned it
WELL, My memory is definitely failing me
WHEN IT COMES TO THE PLACE
where I was
when I sang it the first time
- I have absolutely no recollection of that.
* what the song is about
And now let me say a few words about the lyrics of the song,
THAT IS what it is about.
Before I proceed,
I have to say
that it takes a few minutes
to sing it
because it consists of several verses,
and every second or so line is repeated twice.
In the first half of the song
we learn
that um ..once upon a time
a baby spruce
sprouted
deep in the woods.
In winter
blizzards sang lullabies to it
and snow covered its branches
so that it would not freeze.
Every now and then
a timid rabbit
hopped under the tree and away,
or a big bad wolf
trotted briskly past
in its close vicinity.
The second half of this traditional children’s tune
tells us that
the spruce kept growing
until it turned
into a towering green tree.
Then,
on a cold winter day,
an old man arrived
in a rickety logging sleigh
drawn by a carthorse.
He chopped the spruce down
and brought it to the kids
that are singing the song.
The last verse describes the cheery mood
that the New Year’s tree,
decorated with baubles and tinsel,
has put the children in,
and the happiness it has filled them with.
* and explain how you felt when you used to sing this song.
All in all,
it is the sort of tune
that is supposed to put you
in a jovial, festive mood,
and that was definitely the case
when I was a preschooler.
However, now that I am much older,
I tend to feel sorry for the spruce.
I feel it should have stayed in the woods
and I wish the old man
had not cut it down.
It might well be so
that
over the years
I’ve grown too sentimental, though, ..
and that’s pretty much it, I suppose,
any questions?
RECORDING TIME: 2 mins 03 secs
