New National Education Association President Calls for a Less Partisan Focus in Education

Study the questions and tasks

Work through the material below, or start the interactive practice above to complete an attempt. Try the exercises before opening any answer or transcript sections, then use them to review your work.

Practice level

C2. Try this level if you can follow the instructions and understand most of the language; choose an earlier level if you need more support.

Question formats

Single choice

How to approach this practice

Read the questions, then listen before opening the transcript. Notice names, numbers and any corrections the speaker makes.

1. Question 1 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What does Moss want educators to do regarding partisan politics?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. Adopt a clearer party affiliation
   2. Move away from party-centered politics
   3. Avoid discussing professional challenges
   4. Transfer political decisions to communities
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Move away from party-centered politics

   Her stated direction is to move educators away from party-centered politics.

   Princess Moss, the new president of the National Education Association, has set out an early direction for her leadership: educators should be encouraged to move away from partisan politics while the union concentrates on the challenges confronting the profession and the steps ahead for the organization.

2. Question 2 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What organizational fact increases the significance of Moss’s public statements?

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   1. It is described as the nation’s largest labor union
   2. It represents only local education officials
   3. It has withdrawn from public discussions
   4. It recently ended collective representation
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   It is described as the nation’s largest labor union

   The union’s size gives its president a substantial public platform.

   Its president therefore speaks for an organization with a substantial role in public discussions about education and the working lives of educators.

3. Question 3 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What does the recording say about the boundaries of Moss’s distinction?

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   1. They have been legally codified
   2. They are already accepted by every educator
   3. They remain open to interpretation
   4. They exclude professional advocacy entirely
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   They remain open to interpretation

   The boundaries remain interpretively unsettled rather than formally defined.

   It can instead suggest an effort to distinguish professional advocacy from party allegiance, although the precise boundaries of that distinction remain open to interpretation.

4. Question 4 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Why does the account avoid listing educators’ difficulties individually?

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   1. The difficulties are considered politically irrelevant
   2. The account lacks enough detail for accurate specification
   3. Moss has refused to acknowledge workplace pressure
   4. The union has resolved those difficulties already
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   The account lacks enough detail for accurate specification

   The available information lacks sufficient detail for accurate specification.

   That restraint matters: educators may face several kinds of pressure, and describing them accurately requires more detail than is provided here.

5. Question 5 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What does Moss link to the conditions in which educators work?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. The union’s future direction
   2. The definition of partisan politics
   3. The size of the labor movement
   4. The boundaries of public education
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   The union’s future direction

   She connects those working conditions to the union’s future direction.

   What is clear is that Moss links the union’s future direction to the conditions in which educators work.

6. Question 6 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What must the union avoid allowing to define its work?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. Community expectations
   2. Professional consensus
   3. Partisan conflict
   4. Educators’ daily difficulties
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Partisan conflict

   The recording identifies partisan conflict as the risk to be contained.

   And how can it maintain a public voice without allowing partisan conflict to define that work?

7. Question 7 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What will shape how educators understand the union’s role?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. The union’s historical membership figures
   2. The answers to Moss’s two connected questions
   3. A finalized list of educators’ pressures
   4. A change in national political parties
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   The answers to Moss’s two connected questions

   The answers to the two leadership questions will influence that understanding.

   The answers will shape how the union explains its priorities and how educators understand its role.

8. Question 8 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What remains unresolved at the recording’s conclusion?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. Whether educators face any workplace pressures
   2. Whether the union has a public role
   3. How the approach will operate in practice
   4. Whether Moss leads the association
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   How the approach will operate in practice

   The practical effects of Moss’s approach have not yet emerged.

   The approach gives her leadership an identifiable starting point, while leaving its practical consequences to be developed over time.

What to review next

Listen again to difficult sections, then open the transcript to check what you heard. Repeat a useful phrase aloud and try the recording once more without the text.

A focused practice result shows how you did on these tasks. Use several activities across skills to decide what to study next; one practice score does not certify an overall CEFR level.

Before you practise: a worked example

Listen for the final information, especially when a speaker corrects or changes an earlier statement.

Example transcript: “Let’s meet at five — actually, half past five would be better.” What is the final suggested time?

The final suggested time is 5:30. Actually signals a correction; the first time is replaced by the later suggestion.

This teaching example is separate from the scored questions. After your test, compare any mistakes with the explanation and revisit the topic before trying again.