Narrator: Now listen to a conversation between two students.
Female student: Why are you still in the library this late at night? Do you have an exam tomorrow?
Male student: Haven’t you heard about the air-conditioning? It’s way too hot to sleep in my dorm.
Female student: No, what happened?
Male student: The air-conditioning in all of the dormitories on the east side of campus broke down.
Female student: Wow. How long will it take to fix?
Male student: Apparently some really old part broke… they don’t even make replacement parts anymore. So the maintenance people are taking the whole thing apart. Who knows when it will be working again.
Female student: This is the worst possible time that could’ve happened. It’s been so hot and humid. If I were you, I’d go home for the weekend.
Male student: That’s an option. My mom would definitely be happy. But my home is a two hour drive. I would miss my soccer game on Saturday.
Female student: At least you’d be able to sleep. Do you know anybody who lives closer to campus who has air-conditioning?
Male student: There is one place I can think of… although I’d have to sleep on my friend’s couch, and I think he has band practice at his house every weekend. I might not get any sleep there, either.
Female student: I guess there isn’t a great solution.
Male student: Either I miss the game or I don’t sleep all weekend. I hope they fix the air-conditioning soon!
Narrator: Briefly summarize the problem the speakers are discussing. Then state which of the two solutions from the conversation you would recommend. Explain the reasons for your recommendation.
The air-conditioning is broken, so the student… he is trying to find a comfortable place to sleep because he cannot sleep in his room. Um, the first solution is going home for the weekend, but that is a long drive so he will miss his soccer game… and the second solution is… sleeping at a friend who live closer to campus. Um, but that friend has, uh, band practice during the weekend, so the student will not be able to sleep well there either. Um, I believe that his best decision is to go home, um, and miss the soccer game. Sleep is very important to your health and well-being, more important than one soccer game. In addition, if he cannot sleep at his friend house, then he would play poorly probably anyway.
The student clearly states his opinion and offers good reasons to support that opinion. He also structures his sentences with well-chosen “connector words” (e.g., “so,” “because,” “if,” “in addition”), making the logic easy to follow. He has a few small grammatical errors, but not very many.