Ielts listening Practice: Maps

IELTS Listening Practice: Maps
In the IELTS listening test, you might be asked to complete a map while listening to someone talking about a particular place. Today, we are going to explore this part of the exam and I will show you how to develop your listening skills in order to excel at it. This article will explore the vocabulary and skills you need to do this sort of question.
Maps in IELTS Listening: An Overview
First of all, why do you need to fill in a map for IELTS listening? Well, this deals with a specific kind of language that is quite important when you are learning and using English. Being able to follow instructions, pick out important information, and keep track of a conversation are all utterly essential when it comes to using English. As such, they will be tested in IELTS.
Let’s look at this example from an IELTS listening test:
There are no tricks here and this is not intended to fool you. You are required to simply follow a spoken description and then point out the right places. This sort of ability will help you a lot when you move to an English-speaking country one day!
This type of question could occur at any point in your IELTS listening test but it is more common in section two than other sections.
What you need to do
This sort of task is often referred to as “map labelling.” That is because you will listen to someone talking about an area and then you will fill in certain blanks with a list of potential places, like this:

You can see from the two examples we have already seen that there are at least two variations of this question. In one case, you have places on a map that are marked by letters. You need to connect them to a list of place names. In the other, you have a map with blank spaces and you need to choose the best answer from a short list of names. Both versions are very common.

This is how you should answer IELTS map labelling questions:
1. Read the instructions carefully.
2. Look at the map to get an idea of what you will hear.
3. Listen and note down the answers as you hear them.
4. Take a guess for any answers that you did not hear.
Remember that there will be plenty of words you do not need to pay attention to, so try not to feel overwhelmed by the audio recording. If you miss an answer, just move on to the next part.
IELTS Listening Map Vocabulary
We are going to do some practice today but first I would like to introduce you to some IELTS listening map vocabulary. This is because the language here is very important. It is what we call functional language and it is quite essential for daily living in English-speaking places.
Of course, the most important vocabulary to know for map labelling is location vocabulary. This includes a lot of prepositions but you also need to know adjectives and verbs and other parts of speech. To be honest, it is better to learn these ideas as phrases rather than individual words.
In addition to location vocabulary, you also need to think about directional and instructional vocabulary – ie the words that tell you where to go or what to do.
Here are a few more:


Vocabulary for Places

Finally, it is also important when labelling maps that you know the different names of places. To be honest, this is not quite as vital as the location/direction vocabulary because many of these places will be listed on your test paper. However, it is still an advantage to know it. Here are some words that might help.

If you want to learn more vocabulary about maps, you can also check out my lesson on describing maps for IELTS writing.
Tips
When doing this sort of test, you should be careful of a few things. Here is some general advice about IELTS listening and maps:
1. Read the instructions carefully before you begin.
2. Look at the map and imagine what you may hear.
3. Don’t worry about every single word.
4. Visualise what you hear.
5. Check your spelling (after listening).
6. Take a guess for each answer you missed.
7. Listen for clues (“We are now approaching…” etc)