Lesson 18 of 41 in the Test Ninjas TOEFL course: Listen to an Announcement, Listening. In Listen to an Announcement, one speaker tells a group some news, and you hear it once.
Test Ninjas Research · Updated October 1, 2026
Lesson at a glance
Detail
This lesson
Module
Listen to an Announcement (Listening)
English focus
Announcement language: purpose signals (please note, just a reminder, no need to worry), change passives (has been relocated, is being refinished), time frames (effective Monday, until further notice) and audience frames (Attention + group, If you're…, Those of you who…)
Task skill
Why the announcement is made; who is affected
Time
About 55 minutes
Access
Included in the TOEFL plan
What this lesson teaches
In Listen to an Announcement, one speaker tells a group some news, and you hear it once.
This lesson teaches the English that carries that news:
- signal phrases such as please note and just a reminder
- change passives such as has been moved and is being repaired
- the frames that say who is being spoken to (Attention, residents…, If you’re…, Those of you who…)
Then you’ll use them for the questions they unlock: why the announcement is made, who it is for or who is affected, and what a line addressed to one group implies.
By the end of the lesson, you can
Recognize what an announcement is doing from its signal phrases (announce a change, remind, ask, warn, reassure), and understand the change passives and time frames that carry the news (has been moved, is being repaired, effective Monday, for the next two weeks, until further notice).
Tell the whole audience named in the greeting (Attention, residents of…) from a smaller group picked out later (If you’re…, Anyone who…, Those of you who…), and work out what a line means for that group.
In Listen to an Announcement, choose the main purpose by finding the news that every other sentence depends on, and choose who is affected. Reject options that promote a side detail, turn the plan around, or reuse the speaker’s words with a new meaning.
What’s inside
Around the 3 teaching cycles below, the lesson opens with a quick check and closes with applied practice, a Check and a debrief. How every course lesson is built.
Teaching cycles in lesson 18
Cycle
Focus
What it teaches
Drills
Cycle 1
English
What the speaker is doing: purpose signals
7
Cycle 2
English
Who it's for: naming and narrowing the audience
6
Cycle 3
Task skill
Main purpose and who is affected
7
Word bank
The 10 words and phrases this lesson teaches. They come from the real course questions you practice on in the Apply step, so you meet each one again in context.
update noun
the newest information about something
Here’s a quick update on the bridge repairs: the east lane reopens on Friday.
Goes with:
a quick update from…; an update on the schedule
Word family:
update (verb): give someone the latest information; updated (adjective); up to date (phrase)
refinish verb
to give a floor or a piece of furniture a new surface (sanding, varnishing)
The gym will be closed while its wooden floor is refinished.
Goes with:
refinish the floor / a table / the woodwork
Word family:
refinished (adjective); finish (noun): the surface coat on wood or metal; re- verbs: repaint, reopen, rebuild
multipurpose room noun phrase
a room used for many different activities
The dorm’s multipurpose room hosts movie nights, club meetings and exam review sessions.
Goes with:
book the multipurpose room
Word family:
multipurpose (adjective): used for many purposes; purpose (noun); multi- words: multilingual, multimedia
cap verb
to set a top limit on a number
The museum caps each rooftop tour at twelve people, so tickets go quickly.
Goes with:
cap something at + a number
Word family:
cap (noun): an upper limit, as in a cap on numbers; capped (adjective)
reserve a spot collocation
to book a place ahead of time
Tours of the observatory are free, but you need to reserve a spot in advance.