Tips for Teachers

Starters Reading & Writing
Understanding the Tasks — Answers and Discussion

Look at the discussion of these points about the Starters Reading & Writing component. What are the skills and strategies your students need to have for this part of the test?

1. What skills are being tested?

The main skill is reading, with very little writing, the emphasis being on receptive rather than productive skills at this level. This reflects realistic language production for this level and age-group, who are usually most proficient at speaking and listening skills. It also shows a possible progression that teachers can use in the classroom to build up their students' reading and writing skills gradually.

It's important that children learn to recognise common phrases and vocabulary, and that teachers help them get used to the spelling conventions of English.

Correct spelling is required in all parts of the Reading and Writing test.

2. What support is given to the children to help them complete the tasks?

Each of the parts has simple but clear instructions and one or two example answers. Instructions are kept as simple as possible, and children need to be trained to read instructions before they begin, as they remind the candidates what they have to do in each activity. If you build up your students' familiarity with the wording used in YLE test instructions, they will also feel more confident when they read the instructions in the test and can understand them easily.

Children need to get used to looking at the examples so that they understand how to complete the task, and it will help them start thinking in English. Examples can also help to set the context for the task, especially in Parts 4 and 5, where stories are used. The examples can also give candidates confidence that they know how to answer these questions.

3. What different kinds of responses are expected of the candidates?

The tasks progress from producing a tick or cross to producing a one-word answer; candidates are not expected to write more than one word for any answer in the test. This type of minimal response reflects what teachers would expect their students to produce at this age and level.

All the answers must be clear; in Part 1, the crosses and ticks must be easily distinguishable, so it's useful to do this type of activity in the classroom and get children to mark each other's answers, making sure that unclear ticks or crosses aren't allowed. Children also need to practise producing the written form of words they know, sometimes with some support (such as an anagram of the letters or dashes to represent the number of letters) and sometimes without.

4. How do the tasks take into account concentration spans and maintaining interest?

All the tasks are short and most are based on colourful pictures. The topics reflect children's interests. Visuals used are kept as simple as possible and always include situations and themes relating to the children's world.