• Are you interested in free English lessons at Languages International?

    The lessons are taught by people who are learning to become teachers on our teacher training courses. These lessons can help you to:

    • Learn new words and expressions
    • Practise speaking
    • Meet new people

    We run these free classes at our central city school.

    Class dates:

    Start End
    2 September 27 September
    18 November 13 December

    We need students who are at about pre intermediate and upper intermediate levels. So that we can check your level, please take our online test below. We will then tell you your level.

    Places in the free lessons are limited and we accept the first students to come every day.

    Note: if we do not run the teacher training courses on the dates above, we cannot offer free English lessons.

  • Take the test

  • Instructions

    From the drop down lists, choose the best answer to complete each text. There are 60 questions. Please make sure you answer all questions. Click the 'Send Test' button at the bottom when you have finished.

  • Text 1: The Christmas Holidays

  • 1. A: You've just come back from your holiday over Christmas. Where
    you go?
  • 2. B: Well I went back to England. At first I went for a
    ,
  • 3. which was
    the end of November, and then I decided to stay for Christmas because it's such a long way back to England.
  • 4. I
    a really good time.
  • 5. A:
    did it feel going back to England?
  • 6. B: Great. It was really good to
    all my friends and family and it was also quite nice
  • 7.
    my boyfriend who's a New Zealander came to visit.
  • 8. It
    the first time he'd been to England, so it was great to
  • 9. show
    all the tourist sights
  • 10.
    London. We also went to Paris.

  • Text 2: Computers

  • 11. I wrote my first program for a computer when I
    thirteen years old.
  • 12. A program
    a computer to do something. My program told the computer to
  • 13. play
    game. This computer was very big and slow.
  • 14. It didn't
    have a computer screen. But I thought it was wonderful. I was just
  • 15. a kid, but the computer
    everything I told it to do. And even today, that's
  • 16.
    I love about computers. When I write a good program, it always
  • 17.
    perfectly, every time.
  • 18. The computer was our toy. We grew up
    it. And when we grew up, we
  • 19. brought our toy with
    . Now the computer is in our homes and in our offices.
  • 20. It
    our lives and it is changing them again, because
  • 21. now the computers
    together to make a new system.
  • 22. In
    system, computers all over the world are beginning to work together.
  • 23. Our computers
    our telephones, our post office, our library, and our banks. When we talk about this new system, we call it the Internet.
  • Bill Gates The Road Ahead. Penguin 1995. © Microsoft Corporation. Permission sought.

  • Text 3: Tramping - walking in New Zealand's forests and mountains

  • 24. New Zealand's
    tourist season is generally in the warmer months from around November to
  • 25. April, though of course there's some exceptions - ski resort towns,
    , will be
  • 26. packed out in winter. The most busy time to be travelling in New Zealand is
    the summer school holidays from around 20 December to 30 January. To a lesser extent Easter weekend, Labour Weekend in late October, and the May and August
  • 27. school holidays
    also busy periods. If you're travelling during
  • 28. the school holidays, when New Zealanders as well as visitors are out on the road, remember that
  • 29. type of accommodation and transport is
    to fill up, especially the more
  • 30.
    places, so plan ahead. It may be more pleasant to visit New Zealand
  • 31.
    before or after this hectic period, when the weather is still warm and there
  • 32.
    as many other travellers around.
  • 33. New Zealand is not like some other countries, though,
    the weather is so miserable at some
  • 34. times of the year that there's no
    in going.
  • 35. You
    need warmer clothes in winter but there are
  • 36.
    other things to see and do in New Zealand all year around.
  • Peter Turner et al. New Zealand Travel Survival Kit. 8th edition. © Lonely Planet 1996. Reproduced with permission of Lonely Planet Publications.

  • Text 4: Planning a night out

  • A: Hi. How are you?
    B: I'm good
  • 37. A: Very good. So, listen. We
    out tonight. That's the plan, right?
    B: Yeah, that's the plan.
  • 38. A: OK. So have you thought about what sort of thing
    to do?
    B: Well, I rather fancy seeing a movie actually and maybe have dinner.
  • 39. A: Yes, food
    good. I was actually thinking about
  • 40.
    a play.
    B: Oh really?
  • 41. A: Yeah, I
    anything live for a long time.
    B: That's a good idea. What would you like to see?
  • 42. A: Well, it's funny. The other day on Sunday I
    to the radio. Amanda Jones came on. She's directing a play called 'The Birthday Party'. B: I've heard it's really good.
  • 43. A: And I thought it could be a good bet. It's also on at the Maidment, so it's a
    price.
    B: Oh right. So how much is that?
    A: Umm, well, it's $18 if you're under 25
    B: That's not us then, is it?
    A: No, it doesn't really matter
  • 44. B: We could
    something to eat first.
  • 45. A: Yeah, yeah, that'd be good. We
    go to Ken's Yakitori quite early, like, round 6:30
  • 46. B: Ok, well,
    great. So what time would you like to meet?
  • 47.
    we meet in town or
  • 48. should I
    you up?
    A: We'll meet at Ken's.

  • Text 5: The Case for an Increased Greenhouse Effect

  • 49. The earth has an average surface temperature of about 15°C, although the temperature on the surface
    from -60°C to 80°C.
  • 50. The planet is in a heat balance. Light energy released by the sun
    the surface of the earth;
  • 51. as a result, heat energy is
    from the earth's surface into space, cooling the earth down.
  • 52. If the earth had
    atmosphere around it, the surface would be about
  • 53. 33°C colder
    . This is
  • 54.
    the gases trap heat energy. Light energy can pass through the gases but heat energy
  • 55. cannot get out again
    . As with the glass in a gardener's greenhouse
  • 56.
    lets in light but holds back heat, the earth's atmosphere warms up. This is known
  • 57.
    the greenhouse effect. The power of the greenhouse effect is
  • 58.
    by earth's neighbour, the planet Venus. Venus is nearer to the sun than we are and if it
  • 59. lacked an atmosphere, it
    an average surface temperature of 37°C.
  • 60. However, its atmosphere
    96% carbon dioxide. When a recent space craft landed, it found a surface temperature of 428°C!
  • Tomkins, S., M.J. Reiss & C. Morris Biology at Work. © CUP 1992. Reproduced with the permission of Cambridge University Press

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