Hello Exam Seekers,

To start off… I hope you had a good weekend and a Happy Mother’s Day!!! Well, moving on to the topic today…

When teachers and parents decide to offer English exams for their kids, they don’t always find information about them that easily. So, last month, I started to talk about the Cambridge English Young Learners Exams (YLE), and last week, I wrote some information on the YLE – Pre A1: Starters – Reading and Writing Exam, make sure you take a look.

As for today, I decided to start talking about the YLE A1 Movers Reading and Writing to explain how the exam works and how to guide your young learner to get the best score.

The A1 Movers Reading and Writing test has six parts. Each part begins with one or two examples. For all parts of the Reading and Writing test, children must spell their answers correctly.

It is a very friendly exam, with colorful pictures, and they are all activity-based. There are 35 questions that must be answered in 30 minutes. The test has to be done in pencil.

Part 1 – Match the definition

On the first page, there are 8 pictures with the name of the word written under them. On the second page, there are 5 definitions (sentences that describe or explain five of the eight pictures). Children need to choose which picture matches each definition and copy the correct word under it.

This task requires young learners to read short definitions and match them to the words. Here is a sample:

Practice tips: Give learners definitions of words and ask them to guess the word/object. Or show them pictures and put words on the board, then ask them to match them.

Part 2 – Dialogue

There is a picture of some kids talking and 6 short dialogues under the image representing their conversation. Children have to decide what the second speaker says each time (A, B or C).

This task requires young learners to read the conversation and choose the correct response. Here is a sample:

Practice tips: Show a picture of kids talking and tell them what one of them has said. Then ask them to reply to the conversation appropriately or to choose the correct reply from some options.

Part 3 – Complete the gaps and choose the title

There is a text with 5 missing words (gaps) in it. On the next page, there are some small pictures and words. Children have to decide which word goes in each gap and copy it. For the last question, they have to choose the best title for the text from three possible titles.

This task requires young learners to read for specific information and for the main idea. Here is a sample:

Practice tips: Tell young learners a story, ask them to complete with missing words, and then ask them which title would fit best (with and without options provided).

Part 4 – Complete the text

It is similar to part 3. There is a text with 5 missing words (gaps), but there are no pictures. On the second page, there is a choice of three possible answers for each of the gaps. Children have to decide which answer is correct and copy the word into the gap.

This task requires young learners to read and understand a factual text and complete it with simple grammar. Here is a sample:

Practice tips: You can give them a text and give them a minute for them to guess the words missing, then provide some words for them to choose from.

Part 5 – Complete the sentences

There are three pictures telling a story. After each part of the story, children have to complete sentences about the story using one, two, or three words. Students can use the words in the text to complete the sentences.

This task requires young learners to read and understand the story from where they get the words to complete the gaps. Here is a sample:

Practice tips: Show learners a story with gaps to complete. You can help them by showing how they can find the answers in the text, highlighting them.

Part 6 – Answer the questions

There is a picture with 6 sentence prompts. Children have to complete sentences, respond to questions, and write two full sentences about the image (anything that describes the picture well).

This task requires young learners to complete sentences, respond appropriately to the questions and write sentences about the picture.

Practice tips: Show learners a picture and ask them questions about it. You can also ask them to describe the picture.

This exam should be done in 30 minutes, as I mentioned. It is vital that you practice this exam with them so that they get familiar with this format. Otherwise, they might not know how to complete the gaps. So make sure you practice with them whenever possible. This will build students’ confidence, and if they get them all correct, they will earn 5 shields for this exam.

I will leave a document offered by Cambridge English Qualifications with classroom activities to download if you want. It will help you prepare your students.

————x————

That’s it for today! Please like the post and follow the blog on:

• youtube.com/c/ExamSeekers
• facebook.com/ExamSeekers
• instagram.com/ExamSeekers
• twitter.com/ExamSeekers

You can also listen to this post at Anchor!!!

Have a great week,
Patricia Moura