Narrator: Now listen to two students discussing the article.
Male student: I’m so happy they’re moving graduation to the stadium.
Female student: Why? I was a little disappointed. The theater is so beautiful. And what if it rains? The stadium isn’t covered.
Male student: It rains during games sometimes, but we still go. Just take an umbrella with you. Besides, it isn’t very likely. That time of year, we don’t get very much rain.
Female student: I suppose that’s true. But the theater has a much better atmosphere.
Male student: The theater is also very small. I think the biggest drawback is the theater’s capacity. Did you know that each graduating student was allowed to invite only two guests? And only seniors can attend. My sister is in her second year and she wouldn’t have been able to come, since I would have given my two tickets to my parents.
Female student: I didn’t realize that it was so limited.
Male student: Many students had to make difficult choices about who to invite. Some students who didn’t need both tickets were even selling their tickets to others for really inflated prices. It was terrible.
Female student: You’ve convinced me. I agree, they should move graduation to the stadium.
Narrator: The man expresses his opinion about moving graduation to the stadium. State his opinion and explain the reasons he gives for holding that opinion.
The male student is very happy about the decision to move, um, the graduation ceremony from the theater to the stadium. Um, he says that, you know, the main problem with the theater is that it is too small. Um, he said that past graduating students only were allowed to have two guests attend the ceremony. Um, so, because tickets were in such high demand that… that some students actually, you know, sold their graduation tickets at really inflated prices, um, which is obviously not, uh, you know, not good. Uh, he said that also only seniors are allowed to attend the ceremony and he had a… a sister who’s a second-year, so you know, she wouldn’t have been able to attend because his parents already had his tickets, and, uh, you know, it’s j-just not enough room for everyone to be able to attend, and that’s really the main problem.
The student strongly conveys the man’s main complaint about moving graduation to the stadium. She includes a good amount of detail to explain his point of view. She could improve her response by varying the start of her sentences more (“Um, he says that” ... “Um, he said that” ... “Uh, he said that”).