Transcript Cambridge Activities

Starters
Paper
Content
Listening
4 parts
20 questions
5 parts
25 questions
(about 20 minutes)
Reading & Writing
(20 minutes)
Speaking
(3-5 minutes)
5 parts
Mark
(a maximum of 5 shields)
Speaking
Reading
Listening
Listening
Part 1
Listen and draw
lines.
There is one
example.
Part 2
Read the questions. Listen
and write a name or a
number.
There are two examples.
Part 3
Listen and tick (√) the
box.
There is one example.
Part 4
Listen and colour.
There is one example.
Reading
and writing
Part 1
Look and read. Put a
tick or a cross in the box.
There are two examples.
Part 2
Look and read. Write yes or no.
Part 3
Look at the pictures. Look at the letters.
Write the words. There is an example.
Part 4
Read this. Choose a word from the box. Write the
correct word next to the numbers 1-5. There is one
example.
Part 5
Look at the pictures and read the questions. Write
one-word answers.
Examples
Where are the children?
What colour is the cat?
in the classroom
white
.
Notes to teachers
Slide 2Notes: There are no pass or fail grades. Every child is given a certificate with a certain number
of shields showing how well they demonstrated each skill.
TIPS:
Many marks are lost because letters and /or words are not clearly written. It is often better
not to use joined-up writing, as letters can become confused and unclear.
Candidates need to write only as much as they need to. They should avoid unnecessarily long
answers which provide more opportunities for making mistakes.
When doing classroom tasks, set time limits to improve concentration.
Make sure candidates are familiar with the vocabulary, grammar and structures in the Starters
syllabus.
STARTERS topics: animals, the body and the face, clothes, colours, family and friends, food and
drink, the home, numbers 1-20,places and directions, school, sport and leisure, toys,
transport, the world around us.
Slide 4Notes: All the texts are heard twice. Part 1 tests five different lexical items – normally
taken from two or three different semantic fields. The context is provided by a picture,
within which objects are ‘placed’ by the candidate, who has to draw a line from the named
object to a location within the picture.
Tips:
Use pictures, puzzles and vocabulary games to ensure that candidates can recognize all of
the nouns on the Starters vocabulary list.
Give plenty of practice in understanding and using prepositional phrases.
Encourage candidates to draw straight lines.
Answer key:
Lines should be drawn between:
1. Clock and the place between two pictures on the wall
2. Book and under table
Slide 5Notes: All the texts are heard twice. There is one picture to set the context, and five
comprehension questions. Each answer is either a name or a number. The numbers dictated
can be written as digits or words. All names must be spelled correctly for the mark to be
awarded.
Tips:
Make sure candidates know what’s expected of them.
All the names candidates are asked to write come from the Starters vocabulary list.
Give plenty of practice in the letters of the alphabet.
Candidates will only hear numbers from 1 to 20. They should be encouraged to write digits
rather than words to avoid spelling mistakes
Answer key:
ALEX
8/eight
Slide 6Notes: All the texts are heard twice. Part 3 consists of five three-option multiple-choice
questions, with pictures.
Tips:
Encourage candidates to look carefully at the pictures and think about what they’re
illustrating.
Train candidates to listen to the whole of each dialogue, as the answer may well be
provided in several parts of the dialogue rather than just one turn.
Answer key:
A
B
Slide 7Notes: All the texts are heard twice. Part 4 is a test of lexis, particularly names of colours
and prepositions of place.
Tips:
Reassure them this is an English test and not a test of their colouring skills.
Make sure candidates are familiar with the names of colours they are expected to know at
this level (black, blue, brown, green, grey, orange, pink, purple, red, yellow).
Answer key:
Bird on man’s head – pink
Bird in tree - yellow
Slide 9Notes: In Part 1 the candidate reads five statements, each accompanied by a picture, and
the candidate has to place a tick if the statement matches the picture and a cross if it
does not.
Tips:
Encourage candidates to read the sentences and look at the pictures carefully, at least
twice.
The mark they put in the box must be an unambiguous tick or a cross – if it looks as if it
could be either, they will lose the mark.
Answer key:
√
√
X
Slide 10Notes: In Part 2 candidates look at a picture and five statements, some of which correctly
describe the picture and some which do not.
Tips:
Give candidates plenty of practice in matching sentences to pictures.
Make sure candidates are familiar with action verbs that they are likely to come across in
this section (run, ride, walk, play, throw, sing, etc)
Make sure they realize that if any element of the sentence is false, then they must write
no.
Answer key:
Yes
No
No
Slide 12Notes: Part 3 is a test of words and spelling. There are five pictures of objects, each
accompanied by a word given as jumbled letters. The candidate must write the word.
Dashes indicate the number of letters.
Tips:
Candidates should have practice in writing all the words in the Starters vocabulary list.
Reinforce candidates’ knowledge of common letter patterns in English – ea, ck, ight, ou,
er, etc.
Remind candidates that they must only use the letters provided.
Answer key:
jeans
shoes
jacket
Slide 13Notes: In Part 4 candidates read a text and look at the words with pictures in a box
below the text. All the missing words are singular or plural nouns. There are two extra
words which candidates should not use.
Tips:
Candidates should be encouraged to read holistically for a sense of the text before
trying to answer the questions.
Practice in guessing which word could go into each gap is very useful.
Remind candidates that each answer is only one word and must make sense in the
story. It must also fit grammatically.
Give candidates plenty of practice matching pictures and words and mixing up singulars
and plurals to encourage them to be alert to such distinctions.
Answer key:
hair
house
carrots
water
man
Slide 15Notes: In Part 5 a story is told through three pictures, with five questions, each of which
requires a one-word answer. The correct word may be a noun, verb or number.
Tips:
Train candidates to learn the correct spelling of Starters words.
Key question words like ‘Where’ and ‘When’ are often misinterpreted or confused in
Part 5, so do exercises which encourage quick, accurate reading, so that key question
words are correctly identified and understood.
Candidates should practice answering questions with single words, with the emphasis
on selecting key information.
Answer key:
fish
(school)girl/student/child/pupil
writing
Slide 16Notes:
Tips:
Part 1 - Candidates should practice identifying people, animals and things in different
pictures by pointing in response to questions such as: Where’s the snake? Where are
the fish?
Part 2 - Candidates should practice placing smaller pictures on a larger picture in
response to instructions like this: Put the cake in the boat. Candidates should not worry
if the required position does not seem to be an appropriate one!
Part 3 – Candidates should practice answering simple questions about a picture. For
example: What’s this? An elephant. What’s the boy doing? Drinking water. Encourage
them to extend their answers a little, e.g. by using an article before the noun and
naming two items (pizza and hot dogs; tennis and footaball).
Parts 4 & 5, candidates need to feel confident that they can give basic information
about themselves: How old are you? What’s your favourite food? The examiner asks
the candidate some personal questions on topics such as age, family, school and
friends.