below B2 level | EnglishFiles.com

Space Oddity by David Bowie — fill the gaps: a listening comprehension exercise

David Bowie’s Space Oddity is famous for many reasons: for example, it was recorded before the first Moon landing — which is pretty cool, considering its topic. It is also the song that was used for the first ever music video recorded in space, by Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station.

Your task here is to listen to the song and complete the lyrics; feel free to stop the video whenever you like.

This listening comprehension exercise is below B2 level on the CEFR scale (about intermediate level).

There will be more exercises based on this song, including vocabulary and reading.

Lou Reed: Perfect Day – a listening comprehension exercise

The Lou Reed song Perfect Day was recorded in 1972 but became really famous only decades later, when it was featured in the film Trainspotting.

Your task is to listen to the song and complete the lyrics. If you can’t find a word, you can ask for a free letter.

The difficulty of this exercise is below B2 level (intermediate).

You’ll find other tasks based on this song here later.

Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega – a listening comprehension exercise

The original version of this unique song is a cappella (with no music), which is quite rare in pop music. It was also published in several different versions and a number of other artists came out with their own covers too. Initially we had a concert version of the song for this task but then we decided to feature the original video instead as it’s easier to understand.

Your task is to listen to the song and write down the lyrics. It’s not very difficult: slightly below B2 level on the CEFR scale, which is between intermediate and upper-intermediate.

There will be other tasks based on this song coming later, so stay tuned.