Australia - the Island Continent
Discover interesting facts about Australia in this listening comprehension exercise.
Listen to the audio track and answer the comprehension questions. Listen again and follow along in the transcript to find new words and phrases to boost your vocabulary.
Transcript
Australia - the island continent
Australia, officially called The Commonwealth of Australia, is also known as The Land Down Under, Oz or Aussie. It is the smallest continent in the world but the sixth biggest country and is sometimes called the world's biggest island. The country is made up of 6 states (New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland), 2 territories (The Northern Territory and The Australian Capital Territory) and some small islands.
Australian people are called Australians or Aussies and although Australia has no official language, everyone speaks English. Australian English is different from British and American English and Australians have a distinctive accent and unusual slang and vocabulary.
The population of Australia is around 22.9 million and most people live in large cities along the coast line. There is an average of 2.8 people per square kilometer.