Cambridge English Starters test

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YLE Starters Speaking Part 2 Teachers Notes

Description

This activity gives students practice in understanding and following instructions and in using appropriate language to ask for repetition.

Time required:

1015 minutes.

Materials required:

scissors

Sample Task 1 (one copy for each student)

Sample Task 2 (one copy for each student)

(Taken from Starters Sample Paper)

YLE Starters Sample Paper downloaded from the Cambridge English website.

Please download the Sample Paper for this lesson.

Aims: to introduce students to Part 2 of the Starters Speaking paper and to the task type

to practise controlled physical activities in the classroom

to give students practice in using language asking for repetition and clarification.

Before the class

1. Prepare 810 sets of simple instructions to give to students in the classroom. The instructions

should tell them to take an object and put it in another part of the classroom. They should use the

imperative and include a preposition of place.

2. It is important that you prepare the instructions and write them down because you need to be able

to repeat them word for word.

3. Here is an example of a set of instructions:

Pick up a red pencil. Stand up. Go and put the red pencil on the table next to the door.

Note that in the test, the instructions are just one sentence, e.g. Put the pencil on the desk.

Procedure

1. Introduce the activity

Greet the students at the beginning of the activity. Say Hello (name)

to different students in turn and have them greet you in return.

This is an important aspect of the Starters Speaking test and

being able to respond to the examiner at the start of the test

helps to put the children at ease.


Useful language

Ask students what they would say if they dont understand

something.

I dont understand.

Ask students what they would say if they cant hear what the teacher says.

Can you repeat that, please?

Again, please.

Sorry?

Write this useful language on the board so that students have a reminder to help them during the

activity. Also, ask them to copy it into their notebooks.

You could also write each phrase on a piece of paper for display on the walls. This serves as a

useful reminder for students.

If students need more practice using this useful language, spend a few minutes giving them

instructions/asking them questions very quickly or quietly (e.g. Point to the door, How old are

you?) and elicit the useful language from the board asking for repetition.

2. Activity

Select a student. Read out one set of instructions, which you prepared before the lesson, to

him/her in stages, allowing the student to complete one part before moving onto the next.

For example:

Pick up a red pencil.

Stand up.

Go and put the red pencil on the table next to the door.

If the student doesnt understand, elicit/give/remind them of the useful language on the board

from Step 2.

Repeat the above procedure with different students and using different instructions,

reminding them to use appropriate classroom language to ask for repetition if they need it.

3. Sample Task

Hand out Sample Task 2 to the students. Ask them to cut out the cards using scissors .

Now, hand out Sample Task 1.

If you have done the classroom activity for Part 1 of the YLE Starters Speaking test, tell

students that this is the same picture and that, in the test, the same picture is used in Parts 1,

2 and 3 of the test.


Give instructions for students to place the object cards on different parts of the picture,

For example:

Put the shell under the tree.

Put the hat in the water.

Students follow your instructions. They dont speak.

Check with the students where they have put the objects to make sure they are all in the

right places.

A good way of reviewing prepositions is to ask the students for the answers, e.g. Wheres

the shell? (under the tree)

4. Important things to remember

At the end of the activity, ask the students the following questions, in the students first

language if necessary:

What should you say to the examiner at the start of the test? (Hello)

Where do you put the small picture cards? (on the big picture)

What should you say if you dont understand? (e.g. I dont understand / Can you

repeat that, please? / Sorry?)

You may also want to tell the students that there will be one examiner and one child in the

test, i.e. they will not do the test with a partner.

Tell the students that sometimes they have to put the objects in strange places, e.g. Put the

cake in the boat!


YLE Starters Speaking Part 2 Sample Task 1

Original can be found in the Cambridge English: Starters Reading & Writing Sample Paper, which can be downloaded from the Cambridge English website.


YLE Starters Speaking Part 2 Sample Task 2

Original can be found in the Cambridge English: Starters Reading & Writing Sample Paper, which can be downloaded from the Cambridge English website.


YLE Starters Speaking Part 1 Teacher Support Page

Additional information about the Starters Speaking test

There are three aspects that are assessed in the Starters Speaking test:

Reception listening and interaction

Production words and phrases

Production pronunciation.

Each criterion carries a maximum mark of 3.

In the test, each student is taken into the examination room by an usher. The usher is someone who

speaks the students first language and who is possibly known to the student, e.g. a teacher. The usher

explains the test format in the students mother tongue, before taking the student into the examination

room and introducing him/her to the examiner.

Starters is aimed at young children who are at the beginning of their English learning and who probably

have little experience of test situations. Therefore, a major aim of the Speaking test at this level is for them

to show their comprehension of what the examiner says. This may be through actions (pointing to

something in the picture, for instance) or by producing a short phrase or a one-word answer to questions

such as What is your teacher's name? or How old are you?.

At this level it is not necessary for candidates to say more than a few words or to be totally accurate in order to achieve a higher score.

Cambridge English Starters test

Documents

Transcript of Cambridge English Starters test