Advanced Listening Practice

Marcia: Hey, Steve, how did your lessons go this morning?

Steve: Usual mix, really. Year 8 History was torture. And they played a trick on me at the start of the lesson, they must have been planning it for weeks!

Marcia: Oh, too bad. I had them right after you for English and it was like they were in a different world. I couldn't get them to focus for the first ten minutes, they might have been too busy thinking about you, their long-suffering teacher. Planning their next practical joke…

Steve: Either that or they're already thinking about Christmas.

Marcia: Huh, that's strange.

Steve: What?

Marcia: Actually, I can't believe that!

Steve: What is it, Marcia?

Marcia: I put a chocolate cake in this fridge when I got to school this morning, it was for my Year 4 class because they finished a huge project this week and they've done really well.

Steve: And it's gone?

Marcia: Not all of it, but a huge slice of it has. Who would do that in a school staff room? It's incredible. I can't bring a half-eaten cake into my class, can I?

Steve: Someone must have seen who it was. There's always someone here, isn't there?

Marcia: Not on a Friday morning. Only half the teachers are here today. No, there can't have been anyone here most of the morning - well, just one person. But who? It must have been Helen - she's always taking things out of that fridge!

Steve: Marcia, that's not fair! She's always putting things in the fridge too. It can't have been Helen anyway, I think she's outside the school today with her Chemistry class. They've gone to a laboratory in Middleton. What about Donald? He always likes his mid-morning snacks, doesn't he? He might have taken a bit of your cake, perhaps without thinking.

Marcia: Sweet old Donald? No! He wouldn't steal cake from the fridge. He was here when I arrived this morning. He must have seen me put it in there - he knew it was mine. It can't have been him.

Steve: Your friend Michelle is here today, isn't she?

Marcia: She can't have eaten my cake, Steve. She's getting married in February.

Steve: I'm sorry, I don't understand.

Marcia: She's been on a crazy diet for three months. She might have eaten some celery this morning, but not any chocolate cake! And she's my friend and she knew I'd bought that cake for my Year 4 class.

Steve: What about that new teacher? What's his name, Nick, is it? Or Nigel?

Marcia: Neil.

Steve: Yes, when we went to our classes at nine o'clock, he was still here, sitting in that corner.

Marcia: Ah yes, I remember. He can't have had any classes today.

Steve: No, he told me he was here just doing some paperwork. He said he was leaving before lunch.

Marcia: Neil must have taken my cake. I'm going to see the boss about this. Cake thieves will not be tolerated!