CELPIP Listening: Separate Viewpoints and Understand the Language Behind Them

One narrator can represent several different positions

Part six presents viewpoints in a longer, formal recording. Its sentence-completion format resembles parts four and five, but the main challenge is separating the opinions inside one narrator's presentation. Allow around three minutes for the recording and about eight to nine minutes for the whole part.

The subject may be a social issue, a technological development or a community problem. Topic-specific vocabulary, analysis and possible future consequences can make the presentation more demanding than an everyday conversation. The narrator may sound emotionally neutral even when the people being described have strong or conflicting views.

Read the introduction to identify the topic, then establish the issue being debated. For each person, connect the first and last name with the role: a question may use researcher, parent or city official instead of the name. Names and roles identify the source of a claim; the claim and its reason establish the viewpoint.

Make room for positions that are not simply for or against

Leave space for an unknown number of viewpoints. Columns or a mind map can work, provided the issue itself remains visible alongside the people. A report may contain several groups, a qualified supporter or someone proposing a compromise. Reducing everyone to two fixed sides can erase the position a question asks about.

For each person or group, record the position and the reason. Two groups may share an aim while disagreeing about the means, and another may worry about consequences for its members. A date alone cannot answer a question about what someone believes, argues, is responsible for or knows from experience.

Viewpoints deserve more attention here than they do in a straightforward news report. Dates and places can still matter, but prioritize the main issue, names, roles, claims and reasons. Words expressing concern, approval or uncertainty convey attitude even when the narrator does not dramatize them. Transitions help distinguish an added point from a change of position.

Keep the notes short enough to hear what comes next. After the recording, begin with the questions that have clear support, particularly direct questions. Context can help determine whether an unfamiliar expression has a positive or negative meaning, but inference still needs evidence. Monitor the available time and answer every question.

Downtown Traffic Congestion

Read a local news segment about downtown traffic congestion.

Passage

City council in Surrey, B.C. is weighing how to relieve downtown congestion after lanes added to Bellwood Avenue initially cut morning travel times by 12 percent. Those times climbed back to within 3 percent of the old delay within about a year. Transportation planner Felix Doiron cites that rebound as proof of induced demand: added capacity draws in drivers who previously avoided the corridor until the road fills up again on its own. Doiron wants the city to stop widening roads and instead redirect the budget toward frequent bus service, protected bike lanes, and two new park-and-ride lots. Each lot would be built next to the existing SkyTrain stations at downtown's north and south edges, rather than a single lot above the central interchange. He believes pairing new parking with a rail line people already trust will pull more drivers out of their cars than a less-established transit stop would. Commuter advocate Denise Cormier sees it differently, and she's blunt about why. Her own sister works at the downtown hospital, Cormier says, and she's out the door before sunrise most mornings because there's no bus running yet when she needs one. It drives me nuts, Cormier says, hearing this framed as people not wanting to take transit. For hospital and warehouse workers starting before dawn, the issue isn't willingness — it's that the first bus hasn't left the depot yet, and Doiron's plan doesn't move that departure any earlier. City transportation official Ravi Thakur has floated a middle option: a modest congestion charge on vehicles entering a downtown zone, but only for vehicles arriving before nine in the morning on weekdays. It is paired with an incentive for larger employers who agree to shift some employees' start times noticeably earlier. Thakur believes the earlier cutoff targets the worst of the morning crush without touching evening traffic at all. Neighbouring municipalities are reportedly watching Surrey's trial closely, weighing whether a similar charge could ease their own morning bottlenecks without the political backlash congestion pricing usually draws. Thakur has proposed letting shift workers apply for a charge exemption with an employer-signed schedule instead of proving arrival time, though the process isn't finalized. That earlier Bellwood Avenue figure is worth remembering: a 12 percent gain that shrank to 3 percent within a year. Added capacity alone didn't hold, which is why Thakur's pricing trial, however imperfect its exemption process, is being watched so closely. Whether it fares better may depend less on the charge itself than on whether workers like Cormier's sister are ever truly served by it.

Questions

Read each question and compare all four choices before consulting the worked answers.

1. Doiron prefers SkyTrain-adjacent park-and-ride lots because ___

• A. riders already trust the line
• B. the interchange lacks available land
• C. SkyTrain parking fees are lower
• D. north-south lots cost less

2. Bellwood Avenue's travel-time improvement after the lane expansion ___

• A. held steady over the following two years
• B. kept steadily improving each year after the new lanes opened
• C. shrank back toward the original delay within about a year
• D. disappeared within the first week

3. Cormier differs from Doiron mainly in stressing that ___

• A. earlier service, not more buses
• B. removing the new parking lots
• C. resuming road-widening projects
• D. automatic exemptions for all workers

4. Thakur caps the congestion charge at 9 a.m. mainly to ___

• A. avoid overlapping evening events
• B. target the morning crush
• C. match provincial parking rules
• D. align with SkyTrain scheduling

5. Thakur's staggered-start incentive is aimed mainly at employers who ___

• A. operate only briefly within the six-block zone area
• B. already provide free transit passes
• C. can shift a meaningful number of staff earlier
• D. operate exclusively during evening hours

6. The report's closing comparison implies that ___

• A. congestion pricing is doomed too
• B. the exemption process is unnecessary
• C. shift workers are being ignored
• D. road widening alone rarely works

Worked answers and evidence

1. Answer: A

Evidence:

He believes pairing new parking with a rail line people already trust will pull more drivers out of their cars than a less-established transit stop would.

• A: Doiron believes pairing new parking with a rail line people already trust will pull more drivers out of their cars than a less-established transit stop would.
• B: Available land at the interchange isn't mentioned as a factor in Doiron's reasoning.
• C: Parking fees at SkyTrain stations aren't compared with other locations in the report.
• D: Construction cost isn't the reasoning Doiron gives for choosing the SkyTrain sites.

2. Answer: C

Evidence:

lanes added to Bellwood Avenue initially cut morning travel times by 12 percent

Those times climbed back to within 3 percent of the old delay within about a year.

• A: The improvement did not hold steady; it faded over time.
• B: The improvement shrank rather than continuing to improve.
• C: Travel times initially improved but climbed back to nearly the old delay within about a year, which Doiron cites as evidence of induced demand.
• D: The fade happened over roughly a year, not within the first week.

3. Answer: A

Evidence:

For hospital and warehouse workers starting before dawn, the issue isn't willingness — it's that the first bus hasn't left the depot yet, and Doiron's plan doesn't move that departure any earlier.

• A: Doiron's plan adds transit capacity and frequency broadly, but Cormier's sister still has no bus before her shift starts — Cormier is stressing that workers need service to begin earlier, not simply more of it.
• B: Cormier never argues for removing the park-and-ride lots; her concern is about bus timing, not parking.
• C: Neither speaker supports resuming road widening; Doiron explicitly wants to move away from it.
• D: Thakur discusses applying for an exemption, not automatic exemptions. Cormier's point concerns the transit service's starting time.

4. Answer: B

Evidence:

Thakur believes the earlier cutoff targets the worst of the morning crush without touching evening traffic at all.

• A: Evening overlap isn't mentioned as Thakur's reasoning; his stated aim concerns the morning period specifically.
• B: Thakur believes the earlier cutoff targets the worst of the morning crush without touching evening traffic at all.
• C: Provincial parking regulations aren't mentioned as a factor in the charge's timing.
• D: SkyTrain scheduling isn't cited as a reason for the morning-only cutoff.

5. Answer: C

Evidence:

It is paired with an incentive for larger employers who agree to shift some employees' start times noticeably earlier.

• A: No restriction to employers inside the charge zone is stated.
• B: Transit passes are not mentioned as a condition of the incentive.
• C: The incentive targets larger employers who agree to shift employees' start times noticeably earlier; the passage does not guarantee a particular traffic reduction.
• D: Thakur's charge and incentive are about morning traffic, not evening hours.

6. Answer: D

Evidence:

Added capacity alone didn't hold, which is why Thakur's pricing trial, however imperfect its exemption process, is being watched so closely.

• A: The report treats the pricing trial as worth watching closely, not as already doomed to fail like the lane widening.
• B: The report explicitly calls the exemption process unfinished and worth resolving, not unnecessary.
• C: Cormier raises this concern, but the report frames it as an open question, not a settled judgment of its own.
• D: The return to Bellwood Avenue emphasizes that the benefit of that road expansion did not last. D best matches this contrast with the pricing trial; one example does not establish what happens after every road expansion.

Food Waste and Composting

Read a community radio segment about mandatory food-waste sorting.

Passage

You're listening to Kelowna Community Radio — I'm Sana Callahan. Tonight's story is about how Kelowna's mandatory food-waste sorting rules are playing out one year in. When the city expanded curbside composting to mandatory sorting for all households, reactions split sharply. The disagreement wasn't over sorting in principle. It centred on one enforcement detail: a twenty-five dollar fine for any bin found to exceed ten percent non-compostable material by weight. Residents say that threshold is nearly impossible to judge by eye in a rushed morning routine. Resident Colette Marchand backs the program, but a fine last spring still stings. "I sort like a saint," she says, "and I still got hit with a fine." A faulty sensor was to blame. It had been mistaking ordinary food moisture at her collection point for non-compostable weight, pushing her reading past the ten percent line. As far as she's concerned, if the city can't get its own sensors right, it's got no business fining anyone else over theirs, and she says only a handful of the city's faulty sensors have actually been fixed so far. Environmental advocate Hassan Nabulsi distinguishes between two sections of the city's landfill. He argues diversion matters most for the newer section, which still lacks a gas-capture system because of a permitting delay, so methane produced there escapes straight into the atmosphere. The older section, retrofitted with capture equipment two years ago, already captures most of its methane for energy use, so diversion changes little there. City waste-management official Greta Mikkelsen adds a detail that revised the city's capacity projections: earlier estimates measured landfill space by volume, but dense food waste compacts poorly, and correcting to weight showed the landfill filling faster than expected. The city has rolled out the GreenBin Start program in the Fairview and Elm Ridge neighbourhoods only, giving eligible households a free countertop bin and a year of biodegradable liners. Local restaurant owners don't see eye to eye: some think commercial kitchens should face stricter sorting rules than households, while others say the current fines are already tough enough for everyone. Public health officials add that diverted tonnage is being collected, but that doesn't confirm it's all composted. The city's sole processing facility has a daily intake limit of one hundred tonnes that diverted volume already exceeds on peak days, meaning some waste may be quietly landfilled anyway. A program that fines residents over sensor readings it hasn't fully fixed yet is asking a lot of public trust. So here's the question: should a city keep fining households for contamination before its own sensors are proven accurate? Write in and tell us where you'd draw the line. This has been Sana Callahan, for Kelowna Community Radio.

Questions

Read each question and compare all four choices before consulting the worked answers.

1. Residents mainly dispute the fairness of the sorting rule because the fine applies based on ___

• A. how often a household misses collection day
• B. the total weight of a household's waste each week
• C. a contamination threshold that's difficult to judge by eye
• D. whether a household owns a composting bin

2. Marchand says the sensor misreads ___ as non-compostable weight

• A. wrapped or bagged food scraps
• B. ordinary food moisture at the collection point
• C. compostable liner bags
• D. packaging labels

3. Nabulsi argues diverting food waste matters most for ___

• A. the older, already-retrofitted section
• B. both landfill sections equally
• C. the composting facility's storage yard
• D. the section lacking gas capture

4. Mikkelsen says earlier landfill estimates were wrong because they tracked ___

• A. truckload counts, not either unit
• B. neighbourhood totals, not citywide figures
• C. weight, not volume
• D. volume, not weight

5. Nabulsi and Mikkelsen both suggest that ___

• A. the landfill situation is worse
• B. household fines should be scrapped
• C. commercial kitchens pollute the most
• D. sensor errors inflated every fine

6. This report is best summarized as a debate over ___

• A. how to compost commercial waste
• B. whether enforcement is outpacing reliability
• C. how to expand landfill capacity
• D. whether sorting should be mandatory

Worked answers and evidence

1. Answer: C

Evidence:

It centred on one enforcement detail: a twenty-five dollar fine for any bin found to exceed ten percent non-compostable material by weight.

• A: Missed collection isn't what triggers the fine.
• B: The fine is tied to a contamination percentage, not total household waste weight.
• C: The dispute centres on a fine for any bin exceeding a set share of non-compostable material by weight, a threshold residents say is nearly impossible to judge by eye.
• D: Bin ownership isn't the issue; sorting accuracy is.

2. Answer: B

Evidence:

It had been mistaking ordinary food moisture at her collection point for non-compostable weight, pushing her reading past the ten percent line.

• A: Wrapped or bagged scraps are not the malfunction Marchand describes; her issue traces specifically to moisture being misread as weight.
• B: Marchand found out the sensor at her collection point had been mistaking ordinary food moisture for non-compostable weight, pushing her contamination reading past the ten percent line.
• C: Compostable liner bags are not what the sensor misreads in her account; the specific error concerns ordinary food moisture.
• D: Packaging labels are not mentioned as what the sensor misreads; her issue concerns moisture, not label material.

3. Answer: D

Evidence:

He argues diversion matters most for the newer section, which still lacks a gas-capture system because of a permitting delay, so methane produced there escapes straight into the atmosphere.

• A: This describes the older section, which already captures most of its methane; Nabulsi argues diversion matters most for the newer section instead.
• B: Nabulsi draws a clear distinction between the two sections; he does not treat their impact as equal.
• C: His comparison concerns two sections of the landfill itself, not the composting facility's storage yard, which is not discussed.
• D: Nabulsi argues diversion matters most for the newer section, which has not yet had a gas-capture system installed because of a permitting delay, so methane escapes there directly.

4. Answer: D

Evidence:

earlier estimates measured landfill space by volume, but dense food waste compacts poorly, and correcting to weight showed the landfill filling faster than expected.

• A: Truckload counts are not the measurement method described; the correction specifically concerns volume versus weight.
• B: Neighbourhood-level measurement is not mentioned; her correction concerns the unit of measurement, not geographic scope.
• C: This reverses her point; earlier estimates used volume, not weight, and correcting to weight revealed the faster-filling landfill.
• D: Mikkelsen says earlier estimates measured space by volume; correcting to weight, since dense food waste compacts poorly, showed the landfill filling faster than volume-based estimates suggested.

5. Answer: A

Evidence:

He argues diversion matters most for the newer section, which still lacks a gas-capture system because of a permitting delay, so methane produced there escapes straight into the atmosphere.

correcting to weight showed the landfill filling faster than expected

• A: Nabulsi's point about methane escaping the newer section without gas capture and Mikkelsen's correction showing the landfill filling faster than expected both suggest the city's landfill situation is more urgent than earlier assumptions accounted for.
• B: Scrapping household fines is Marchand's concern about fairness, not a point either Nabulsi or Mikkelsen makes.
• C: Commercial kitchens are raised by restaurant owners, not by Nabulsi or Mikkelsen.
• D: Sensor errors inflating fines is Marchand's specific issue, unrelated to what Nabulsi or Mikkelsen describe.

6. Answer: B

Evidence:

A program that fines residents over sensor readings it hasn't fully fixed yet is asking a lot of public trust.

should a city keep fining households for contamination before its own sensors are proven accurate?

• A: Commercial kitchen waste is one question raised among several, not the report's overall framing.
• B: The report weaves together Marchand's sensor errors, the fine's fairness, and the processing facility's limits, all circling whether the city's enforcement tools are reliable enough to justify penalizing residents — the question emphasized in the report's closing frame.
• C: Landfill capacity is Mikkelsen's specific point, not the debate's overall framing.
• D: Whether sorting should be mandatory isn't contested; residents dispute enforcement details, not the mandate itself.

Compare the meaning and the source of each claim

A question about a named person must be answered from that person's position. Someone who supports a benefit should not be assigned a wholly negative attitude, yet approval of one benefit does not imply approval of every claim. Compare paraphrases by meaning rather than by identical wording.

Separate purpose, access and requirements. Why a program exists is different from who may join or what participants must do. Signposts such as the key purpose and strong opposition identify different kinds of information. Record who holds the view and the reason stated; a related idea is not a substitute for that reason.

A compromise deserves its own entry. A person who sees value on both sides may propose something different from either strong supporter or opponent. Connect role and name, and record the actual proposal. To infer a reaction to its acceptance, first establish whether the person supports it. Do not add a more distant emotional response without evidence.

Agreement can coexist with disagreement. A question asking what two experts share requires support from both, not just one. Preserve degrees of certainty as well: an association does not automatically establish cause, and too soon to conclude must not become a definite conclusion.

Participle clauses make the relationship between actions more concise

A participle clause can replace a longer clause while preserving its connection to the main action. While I was waiting for Ellie, I made some tea becomes Waiting for Ellie, I made some tea. Other examples are Looked after carefully, these boots will last for many years; Not wanting to hurt his feelings, I avoided the question; and Having lived through difficult times together, they were very close friends.

The participle clause does not independently carry a specific tense in the same way as the main verb. The main clause helps establish time. These compact structures are common in academic, literary and journalistic writing and can also appear in formal listening material.

A present participle can express a result: The bomb exploded, destroying the building. It can give a reason: Knowing she loved reading, Richard bought her a book. It can describe simultaneous circumstances: Standing in the queue, I realized I didn't have any money. It can also add information: Starting in the new year, the new policy bans cars in the city centre.

Past participles often describe a subject affected by something. Used this way, participles can make your writing more concise expresses a condition comparable to an if clause. Worried by the news, she called the hospital supplies a reason, while Filled with pride, he walked towards the stage describes a feeling. Identify whether the subject performs the action or receives its effect.

Perfect participles make the sequence explicit. Having got dressed, he slowly went downstairs places dressing first. Having finished their training, they will be fully qualified doctors also places completion before the main result. Having been made redundant, she started looking for a new job combines earlier timing with passive meaning.

These forms also follow expressions such as in spite of or despite: In spite of having read the instructions twice, I still couldn't understand how to use it. These prepositions can be followed by a noun phrase or an -ing form; they do not take I have read directly after them. Further examples include Before cooking, you should wash your hands; On arriving at the hotel, he went to get changed; While packing her things, she thought about the last two years.

Use the form when it expresses the intended relationship. It can add variety to writing, but does not need to be forced into every spoken answer. The questions to resolve are the sequence of actions and whether the subject acts or is affected.

Participle clauses: worked examples

The examples compare simultaneous actions, earlier actions, results and passive meanings. Each includes the reason for its form.

Conditionals distinguish reality from an imagined alternative

The zero conditional uses present forms in both parts for general truths. In the example If you don't brush your teeth, you get cavities, both parts use present forms to express a general consequence rather than a particular future appointment or plan. The first conditional connects a possible present or future condition with its result. The second conditional instead imagines an unlikely or hypothetical situation: if + past form, would + base form.

Compare If it rained, you would get wet with You would get wet if it rained: changing the order does not change the condition and result. If you went to bed earlier, you wouldn't be so tired imagines an alternative to the present routine. If I were the Queen of England, I would give everyone a chicken imagines a role the speaker does not hold. If you really loved me, you would buy me a diamond ring makes a complaint through a hypothetical condition; it does not establish whether the other person truly loves the speaker.

If the weather wasn't so bad, we would go to the park imagines different weather; the actual weather prevents the visit. If I knew where she lived, I would go and see her indicates that the speaker does not know. If I were taller, I would buy this dress and If I were twenty, I would travel the world imagine circumstances different from the present. This hypothetical were is associated with the subjunctive mood. The past-looking form is not simply a report of a finished event.

The clauses can change order: We might buy a larger house if we had more money. Other modals are possible, as in He could go to the concert if you gave him your ticket. Another modal example is If he called me, I couldn't hear. The choice of modal is part of the meaning, and the verb after would remains in its base form. Negatives use would not/wouldn't; questions put would before the subject: Would you go?

Work, study and an imagined alternative

A: I can't believe my stupid job at that fast-food restaurant. If I didn't need the money, I'd quit tomorrow.

B: But you do need the money. Hey, it's only while you're going to school.

A: Yeah, but if I were rich, I'd quit the restaurant and I'd quit school.

B: No, you wouldn't. You really want to be a teacher.

A: Yeah, but it's hard going to school during the day and working at night. I'm so tired.

B: If becoming a teacher were easy, it wouldn't be so rewarding.

A: I know. You're right.

B: Look, it's okay to be tired. If I were you, I'd be tired too.

If I didn't need the money contrasts the imagined resignation with the actual need for money. If I were rich does not say the speaker is rich. The reply about becoming a teacher argues that the difficult process contributes to its reward. If I were you considers another person's circumstances; it does not claim that one person can literally become the other.

The career example makes the practical barrier explicit. A man dreams of opening a clothing store if he has enough money. A woman would like to start a computer-game company but says that, if she did not have a family, she would invest her time and money in one. Her need for a salary is the actual constraint. A listening answer must distinguish the dream from the condition that prevents it.

The third conditional looks back at an unreal past

The pattern is if + past perfect, would have + past participle. It imagines a different past condition and its past result: You would have gotten wet if it had rained and You would have passed your exam if you had worked harder. The opportunity to change that past condition has already gone. The structure can express regret or consider an alternative outcome.

Other modals change the possibility: You could have been on time if you had caught the bus. The participle remains essential: He would have gone; they would have stayed. Negatives use would not have plus the participle. Questions keep the full structure: Would you have gone? Wouldn't you have gone? Losing have loses part of the required verb phrase.

The spoken contractions I'd and we'd need to be understood in context. In we'd had, 'd means had; in we'd have scheduled, it means would. Full forms make the structure especially clear in formal writing.

The job example states, If my sister hadn't seen the advertisement, I wouldn't have applied for the manager's position in the first place. Its actual past is the reverse of the imagined condition: the sister did see the advertisement, and the speaker did apply.

The project examples imagine time the team did not have: If we'd had one more month, we would have scheduled the report for October; If we'd had more time, we would have built a project website too; and It would have been simple to manage the deadlines if we'd created a website. In had had, the first had forms the past perfect and the second is the participle of have. The repetition is not automatically an error. The speaker can still be confident about meeting the current deadlines because the imagined alternative is distinct from present expectations.

A project with a tight deadline

A: How are you doing, Karen?

Karen: Oh, I'm great.

A: Are you enjoying the work?

Karen: Yeah, I'm busy, but I'm happy.

A: Good. I'm glad you're working with us. Your team is very talented.

Karen: Thanks. If my sister hadn't seen the advertisement, I wouldn't have applied for the manager's position in the first place.

A: That was lucky. By the way, do you have the deadlines for the Bronson project?

Karen: Yep, it's an ambitious schedule. Not much time.

A: Wow, you're trying to write the final report by September fifteenth?

Karen: Yeah, the deadlines are crazy, huh?

A: If we'd had one more month, we would have scheduled the report for October.

Karen: Wow.

A: If we'd had more time, we would have built a project website too. It would have been simple to manage the deadlines if we'd created a website.

Karen: True, but we're used to working quickly, so I'm sure we'll meet the deadlines.

The advertisement explains how Karen found the position. Ambitious describes the demanding schedule. The October report and the website are alternatives the speakers imagine, not arrangements already made. Karen's closing I'm sure expresses confidence about the actual deadlines.

Further contrasts preserve the time frame: I would have gotten a better job if I hadn't quit school and He would have become a CEO if he had gotten an MBA imagine different pasts. If you are hardworking, you will be a success returns to the first conditional. If I had gone to the conference, I would have taken part in the discussion implies that the speaker did not attend; the participation is an imagined past result.

Hybrid Work and Working from Home

Read a workplace news segment about hybrid work scheduling.

Passage

As more companies finalize permanent hybrid policies, the debate has narrowed to one question: whether the single in-office day should be chosen by each team or fixed company-wide. Workplace analyst Simone Tremblay argues the shift toward hybrid schedules has already reduced burnout across the firms she studies. Her survey drew responses from employees at 260 companies across Canada. She found that self-reported burnout scores fell most sharply wherever staff had some say over which day they came in. Tremblay believes companies that keep every schedule decision centralized are quietly pushing capable staff toward competitors offering more flexibility. That resistance, she says, is often framed as protecting culture, when it mainly protects habit. Operations manager Grant Kessling sees the same shift very differently, and he's got a story to back it up. Last year, he says, he watched three junior hires struggle through their first few months working mostly from home. "It's not that they're not capable," Kessling says, "it's that nobody's there to catch a mistake early, before it becomes a habit." That's the real gap, he says. He tracks turnover among staff with under two years' tenure and ties a good share of it to exactly that pattern. He worries home offices, however comfortable, also hide distractions a video call just can't pick up on. He'd only sign off on looser scheduling if it's paired with in-person time built around real collaborative work. Team lead Yusuf Kanaan argues the disagreement partly comes down to which kind of work each side pictures. He found that the clearest timing gap between remote and in-person work appeared specifically in onboarding a new hire. Tasks such as drafting a written report, by contrast, showed no such gap and sometimes finished faster at home. Bridgeway Consulting, headquartered in Halifax, has rolled out a policy built around that split: two mandatory in-office days each week, one of which must always fall on a Wednesday, with the second day chosen individually by each team. Industry groups worry that too many teams choosing the same second day could create parking and desk shortages that undercut the policy's benefits. Occupational health researchers note that after-hours email volume rose among employees who saved commute time, filling extra hours with work rather than rest. Bridgeway's HR committee, chaired by neither Tremblay nor Kessling, has proposed one more compromise: letting the fixed Wednesday date rotate to a different weekday each quarter, so no single day permanently absorbs the parking and desk crunch industry groups warned about. It's a modest fix, and neither side has called it a full answer. The report's tone throughout suggests real skepticism that a single fixed formula, no matter which day it lands on, will satisfy both camps for long.

Questions

Read each question and compare all four choices before consulting the worked answers.

1. The remaining debate is over who decides ___

• A. which tasks require attendance
• B. whether remote work needs approval
• C. the single in-office day
• D. the in-office block length

2. Tremblay argues that centralizing every schedule decision mainly ___

• A. has no measurable effect on burnout scores
• B. protects company culture more effectively than flexible scheduling
• C. reduces after-hours email volume
• D. pushes capable staff toward competitors offering more flexibility

3. Kanaan says the clearest remote-versus-office gap appears in ___

• A. onboarding a new hire
• B. running a client presentation
• C. drafting a written report
• D. reviewing quarterly budgets

4. Kessling's central worry about home offices is that they ___

• A. reduce total hours worked per week
• B. cost the company more in equipment than in-office setups
• C. hide distractions a video call can't pick up on
• D. make performance reviews less frequent

5. Tremblay's survey drew its data from a source she describes as ___

• A. a single large company's internal records
• B. government labour statistics
• C. a handful of firms in one industry
• D. a broad, multi-company sample across the country

6. Bridgeway's HR committee membership choice suggests ___

• A. leadership fully favours flexible scheduling
• B. the committee is staying neutral
• C. Tremblay's data was dismissed outright
• D. burnout is no longer tracked

Worked answers and evidence

1. Answer: C

Evidence:

the debate has narrowed to one question: whether the single in-office day should be chosen by each team or fixed company-wide.

• A: Which tasks require in-person attendance is discussed by Kanaan separately, but it is not the question the report says the debate has narrowed to.
• B: Manager approval for remote work is not part of the debate the report describes.
• C: The report says the debate has narrowed to whether the single in-office day should be chosen by each team or fixed company-wide.
• D: The length of the in-office block is not the question described; Bridgeway's policy fixes two days without debating their length.

2. Answer: D

Evidence:

Tremblay believes companies that keep every schedule decision centralized are quietly pushing capable staff toward competitors offering more flexibility.

• A: Tremblay's own survey found burnout scores fell most sharply where staff had some say, the opposite of no measurable effect.
• B: Tremblay says this resistance is often framed as protecting culture, when it mainly protects habit — she rejects, not supports, that framing.
• C: Rising after-hours email is a separate researcher finding, not something Tremblay attributes to centralized scheduling.
• D: Tremblay believes companies that keep every schedule decision centralized are quietly pushing capable staff toward competitors offering more flexibility.

3. Answer: A

Evidence:

He found that the clearest timing gap between remote and in-person work appeared specifically in onboarding a new hire.

• A: Kanaan found the clearest timing gap between remote and in-person work appeared specifically in onboarding a new hire.
• B: Client presentations are not mentioned as the task where Kanaan found the timing gap.
• C: Kanaan specifically says drafting a written report showed no such gap.
• D: Quarterly budget reviews are not mentioned as the task where Kanaan found the timing gap.

4. Answer: C

Evidence:

He worries home offices, however comfortable, also hide distractions a video call just can't pick up on.

• A: Kessling's worry is about oversight and mistakes, not total hours worked.
• B: Equipment cost is never raised as part of Kessling's concern.
• C: Kessling worries home offices, however comfortable, hide distractions a video call just can't pick up on, so nobody catches a mistake before it becomes a habit.
• D: Review frequency is never mentioned as part of his concern.

5. Answer: D

Evidence:

Her survey drew responses from employees at 260 companies across Canada.

• A: Her data comes from employees across many companies, not one company's internal records.
• B: The passage describes her own survey, not government statistics.
• C: The sample spans many companies across Canada, not a handful in one industry.
• D: Tremblay's survey drew responses from employees at many companies across Canada.

6. Answer: B

Evidence:

Bridgeway's HR committee, chaired by neither Tremblay nor Kessling, has proposed one more compromise

It's a modest fix, and neither side has called it a full answer.

• A: Full endorsement of flexible scheduling isn't shown; the committee's fix is a modest compromise, not a wholesale embrace of either camp's preference.
• B: The committee is chaired by neither Tremblay nor Kessling, and its rotating-Wednesday fix favours neither side outright, supporting an inference of a balanced approach without proving every member is neutral or assigning an unstated motive to the company.
• C: Tremblay's survey findings are never dismissed in the report; they remain part of the ongoing debate.
• D: Burnout tracking isn't discussed in relation to the HR committee's decision at all.

Online Materials and Textbooks

Read a local education podcast about digital materials versus textbooks.

Passage

As school budgets tighten and textbooks age faster than replacement cycles allow, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board is weighing whether to shift core instruction to digital materials — a change the board frames as applying only to certain subjects rather than every classroom at once. I'm Preston Adjei with Hamilton Education Beat, and I wanted to dig into why this debate won't settle down. Curriculum coordinator Holly Bergstrom supports the shift within careful limits. She says an outdated chapter can now be corrected within days of being flagged, instead of sitting uncorrected until the next printed edition arrives. Digital licences, she adds, also cost noticeably less per student than the print materials they would replace under the district's normal five-year textbook replacement cycle. Bergstrom believes the savings could fund tutoring support and classroom technology that benefits students more than another print run. Veteran teacher Emeka Villanueva isn't nearly as sold on it. Building one real digital unit, he says, one that actually teaches instead of just showing scanned pages, takes way longer than adapting a textbook chapter he's taught a dozen times already. That prep time comes straight out of his evenings, not some free period the school hands him. He's watched enough students flipping back through a paper textbook, sticky notes everywhere, to believe they hang onto material differently that way, and he worries a full digital switch would hit his strugglers hardest. School librarian Teodora Costa has a more practical worry. A district survey found that 34 percent of families with more than one child share a single device at home. Costa wants any rollout to confirm device access, not just usage software, before assuming every student can log in from home. The district has now rolled out the mixed model at two middle schools, keeping core textbook material on paper in every subject. Supplementary readings and practice problems are moving onto an online platform only in subjects without state paper-based testing requirements. Parent councils land in different places: some worry the online material won't count the same for course credit, others are simply glad to see the licensing costs go down. Education researchers point out that comparing test scores between paper and digital groups may say little if the groups also differ in home internet access, a gap that alone can explain performance differences unrelated to materials. Watching this rollout, the number that matters most isn't the licensing savings — it's whether every student actually has a device to use at home. So here's the question: if the savings are real but device access isn't guaranteed, is the shift saving money, or just moving cost onto families who can least afford it? We're curious to hear your take. I'm Preston Adjei, and that's Hamilton Education Beat for today.

Questions

Read each question and compare all four choices before consulting the worked answers.

1. Districts would shift to digital materials only in subjects without ___

• A. state paper-based testing
• B. state end-of-year portfolio
• C. state computer-based testing
• D. district-mandated diagnostic testing

2. Bergstrom argues digital materials are better mainly because they allow ___

• A. more colourful classroom presentations
• B. easier textbook storage at home
• C. longer teacher training sessions
• D. faster correction of outdated content

3. Bergstrom says digital costs less because print is tied to ___

• A. annual state audits
• B. classroom furniture budgets
• C. a multi-year replacement cycle
• D. teacher certification renewal cycles

4. Villanueva says digital-unit prep time comes out of ___

• A. weekend mornings
• B. evenings, after the school day
• C. short lunch breaks during school
• D. scheduled professional-development days

5. Villanueva and Costa both worry a digital shift could ___

• A. disadvantage certain students unevenly
• B. increase licensing costs districtwide
• C. shorten the replacement cycle
• D. reduce teacher prep time

6. Given everything said, the most likely next development is ___

• A. immediate districtwide digital expansion
• B. a full return to paper
• C. closer scrutiny of device access
• D. elimination of all licensing costs

Worked answers and evidence

1. Answer: A

Evidence:

Supplementary readings and practice problems are moving onto an online platform only in subjects without state paper-based testing requirements.

• A: The rollout moves supplementary material online only in subjects without state paper-based testing requirements.
• B: End-of-year portfolio requirements are not the factor named in the report; the criterion concerns paper-based state testing specifically.
• C: Computer-based testing requirements are not the factor named; the report specifies paper-based testing as the relevant exclusion.
• D: District-mandated diagnostic testing is not the factor named; the report specifies state paper-based testing as the relevant exclusion.

2. Answer: D

Evidence:

She says an outdated chapter can now be corrected within days of being flagged, instead of sitting uncorrected until the next printed edition arrives.

• A: Colourful presentation isn't the advantage Bergstrom cites; her case rests on correction speed and lower cost.
• B: Storage isn't mentioned as an advantage in Bergstrom's argument.
• C: Longer training sessions aren't part of Bergstrom's case for going digital.
• D: Bergstrom says an outdated chapter can now be corrected within days of being flagged, instead of waiting for the next printed edition — a clear speed advantage over paper.

3. Answer: C

Evidence:

Digital licences, she adds, also cost noticeably less per student than the print materials they would replace under the district's normal five-year textbook replacement cycle.

• A: State audits aren't mentioned as the reason print costs more.
• B: Furniture budgets are unrelated to the textbook cost comparison Bergstrom makes.
• C: Bergstrom compares digital licence costs with the print materials they would replace under the district's normal five-year replacement cycle; she does not describe annual audits as the basis of that comparison.
• D: Teacher certification renewal isn't part of this cost comparison.

4. Answer: B

Evidence:

That prep time comes straight out of his evenings, not some free period the school hands him.

• A: Weekend mornings are not mentioned as where Villanueva's preparation time comes from.
• B: Villanueva says that prep time comes straight out of his evenings, not any hour built into the school day.
• C: Lunch breaks are not mentioned as where Villanueva's preparation time comes from.
• D: Professional-development days are not mentioned as where Villanueva's preparation time comes from.

5. Answer: A

Evidence:

he worries a full digital switch would hit his strugglers hardest

A district survey found that 34 percent of families with more than one child share a single device at home.

• A: Villanueva worries strugglers retain material differently on paper, while Costa worries some families share a single device at home — different mechanisms, but both point to certain students being disadvantaged if the switch goes fully digital.
• B: Lower cost is Bergstrom's argument for going digital, not a shared worry of Villanueva and Costa.
• C: The replacement cycle is Bergstrom's point about cost, not something Villanueva or Costa raises.
• D: Reduced prep time is not mentioned by either speaker; Villanueva in fact says prep time increases.

6. Answer: C

Evidence:

Watching this rollout, the number that matters most isn't the licensing savings — it's whether every student actually has a device to use at home.

• A: No immediate, full expansion is announced; Preston closes by raising the question of device access at home.
• B: Nothing in the report suggests reverting entirely to paper; the rollout is about combining both formats.
• C: Given Preston's closing point that savings may not mean much if device access isn't guaranteed, the most likely next step is closer scrutiny of whether every student actually has one.
• D: Licensing costs are the savings Bergstrom points to; the report doesn't suggest eliminating them next.

Spelling combinations are a starting point, not a guarantee

Vowels and consonants often work in recognizable groups. Recognizing a group can help make a first attempt at an unfamiliar word, but the same spelling can have more than one sound. Compare the complete word and check uncertain pronunciation rather than forcing every example into a single rule.

Compare beat/bread, look/room and the two patterns in know/how. Check the pronunciation in a dictionary, listen to the difference and say each word aloud. Learn the sound together with the spelling.

Use notes to retain useful relationships, then review the passage to discover details that were missed. Intensive listening and a practical note-taking system reinforce the same goal—more accurate attention to what was actually communicated.

Letter combinations and practice words

Use the groups to compare words, while allowing for exceptions and different sounds within a row.

The endings can also help recognize word types. Many examples ending in -tian or -cian name people; the -cial and -tial examples above are adjectives; future, nature and picture illustrate nouns ending in -ture. Treat these as patterns in the examples, not guarantees about every word with the same letters.