Teacher Support Programme: Seminars for Teachers

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Cambridge English: Young learners

Starters and Movers

Cambridge University Press Preparation Materials

Fun for Starters & Fun for Movers

Preview samples: revised editions 2015

Adapted online version of handout
NB: In the workshop we preceded this handout with a brief PPT presentation of the
main changes to the forthcoming third edition of the CUP “Fun for …” series. The PPT
presentation should hopefully now also be available online. I then distributed this
handout (pages 1-11) and participants brainstormed ideas for expanding the activities
presented on pages 1-9 before looking at the website addresses and useful links on pp
10-11. The original handout has now been extended to include the relevant pages from
the Teachers’ book referred to in the session (pp. 12-20), plus the promised extra
activities from our 2013 YLE session in Fribourg (pp. 21-24).

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Cambridge English Day 2014 Brugg, Switzerland

Cambridge University Press Sat 29 Nov 2014
Cambridge English Language Assessment

Presenter: Mairi Sinclair

Cambridge Presenter Team
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Fun for Starters

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Fun for Starters

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Fun for Starters

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Fun for Starters

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Fun for Starters

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Fun for Movers

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Fun for Movers

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Fun for Movers

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Cambridge English support materials and web links
www.cambridge.org/elt/exams

→ Cambridge University Press site, where YLE and other publications can be bought.

www.cambridgeenglish.org

This is your main site, with links to all sites below.

Click on → Teaching English” → “Resources for Teachers” to reach the Teacher Support site,
where you can find all sorts of useful material, including past papers, link to the Newsletter, etc.
You can register free to download readymade worksheets for any of the exams.

The YLE classroom posters in A4 format and worksheets are available here in colour.
Also spelling word cards (e.g. places for Movers and Flyers).

You can also go direct to the YLE page via www.cambridgeenglish.org/younglearners

The site also has a link to www.cambridgeenglishteacher.org

→ register free as a guest, or for just under €35.00 you have a year’s membership entitling you,
among other useful aids, to participate in the Cambridge webinars, and also to a free 10-hour
online course of your choice, e.g. “How to teach Cambridge English Young learners”.

Many previous webinars can still be viewed via Cambridge English TV:
www.youtube.com/user/CambridgeEnglishTV. In July 2014, for instance, there was a webinar
on Improving performance in Cambridge English – Young Learners Test. More recently,
today’s plenary speaker and presenter Herbert Puchta has written an article and given a talk on
“Taking Young Learners Seriously.

Surf the main site to find lots of other useful support, including

Starters:

Starters Listening download, from Sample Papers Volume 1, 2014:

www.cambridgeenglish.org/starters-audio-sample-v1

Starters Speaking test using materials from Sample Papers Volume 1, 2014:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRWAw1D7pno
(Cand. Penelope, examiner Anne. Strong performance, probably 8 or 9 shields from possible 9).
The video, plus examiner comments, can also be accessed direct from the Cambridge website:

http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/young-learners-english/starters/how-to-prepare/

Comments are on how she performed (well!), but no “grade”, i.e. no. of shields not given.

This page also directs you to many of the resources mentioned above, as well as FAQs for all
three Young Learners test papers (Listening, Reading & Writing, Speaking), Sample Papers for
Volume 1 (in your booklets) and another full set of sample papers in Volume 2, app link
(Starters Sample papers for iPad), and free download of the Starters word list picture book +
activities. Direct link for it:
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/starters-word-list-picture-book.pdf)

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Movers:
Movers Listening download, from Sample Papers Volume 1, 2014:
www.cambridgeenglish.org/movers-audio-sample-v1

Movers Speaking test using materials from Sample Papers Volume 1, 2014:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZz2t4XO6pY
(Cand. Arthur, examiner Anne. Strong performance, again probably 8/9 shields from possible 9).

As with Starters, the video plus examiner comments can also be accessed direct from the
Cambridge website (and again, you’ll find similar support links):

http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/young-learners-english/movers/how-to-prepare/

Other useful sites:

www.cambridge-exams.ch

www.facebook.com/CambridgeTeachers

→ aimed at teachers in Switzerland. Sharing tips and resources / giving latest news on exam
dates, teacher events & seminars plus other current topics

Students can visit the Prepare and Practice page, where they can also join the Cambridge
Facebook site and share tips with other students:

http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/prepare-and-practise/

www.facebook.com/CambridgeEnglish

www.twitter./com/CambridgeEnglish

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IDENTIFICATION ACTIVITIES: MATCHING WORDS, PICTURES AND SENTENCES
(Seeing, Hearing and & Reading)

Aim: to get children accustomed to matching words and pictures, to seeing and using
definitions in English, and eventually to using simple picture dictionaries or elementary English-
English dictionaries

YES and NO Chairs (Towards A1, Starters & variations for A1 Movers/A2 Flyers)
 Draw or stick some pictures from one lexical set on the board (e.g. animals /
transport).
 Place two chairs in front of the board. Put a large ‘YES’ card above one, and ‘NO’
above the other.
 Get the children to stand in two lines facing the board with the first children some
metres away from the chairs.
 Point to a picture and say for example, ‘This is a house’. The first child in each line
has to run and try to sit on the yes or no chair, depending on the answer.
 The first child on the correct chair gets a point for his/her team, then each goes to the
back of their line, and the next pair come forward for the next sentence.

Variations.
1) Children say the sentences.
2) Reading practice. Say ‘This is a….’ and hold up a card with the word house instead of
saying the word.

Develop for A1 Movers and A2 Flyers:

Use scene pictures (from Sample papers, Cambridge posters or any other source). One of
the other children in line describes an object, person or activity/scene within the picture –
correct, or with deliberate mistake. (Descriptions can start off very simply and grow more
detailed the more confident the children become). The two at the front run to correct chair.

Card games (all three levels)

Aim: to give practice in reading definitions

Materials: sets of pictures and corresponding words and/or definitions on card (I set per group
of 3-4 children. Single words for Starters and Movers (or ‘This is a…’), longer phrases or full
sentences for Flyers. Whistle.

Memory matching: play in groups of 3-4

1. Make up sets of cards, one set per 3-4 children in your class. One lot with pictures
and the other with the corresponding words or definitions. Use different coloured card for
the words, definitions and pictures to help distinguish which is which. If you don’t want to
draw your own pictures you can take them from the sample papers, from the Cambridge
Picture Bank, Cambridge University Press e.g. Fun series, websites on p. 8, etc.
2. Put the children into groups of three or four and give out the sets of cards.
3. All the cards should be face down. One child turns up one picture card, names it and
then turns up one definition card and reads it out. The aim is to find a picture + matching
word or definition.
4. If the cards don’t match, they are turned over again, and the next child tries to do the
same, trying to remember where the first child’s cards were.
5. When a set is found, the child keeps them and has another go.

Variation:
For Movers have picture+word+definition (three lots of cards to be turned over and matched!)
Flyers have words + definitions instead of pictures. The pictures can be mini scenes instead
of single objects. Children have to describe the scene before picking up a definition card.

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Play as team game: Word Relay Races
1. Spread the cards out on a table or on the floor at one end of the room.
2. Cards must be face up with definitions, words and pictures muddled up.
3. Divide children into teams according to class size.
4. Blow whistle – first member of each team runs to the cards and tries to find a set. You
can fix a time limit for his. Child brings the set back to the team and spreads it out so
team and teacher can check. You might prefer to have two children from each team
working together to find a set.

Extra activity: A dictionary poster (Moves/Flyers)

1. Stick a large sheet of paper on the wall. Tell the children to write a word or expression
on it then or at any time in the week. They can write words they like or words they find
difficult.
2. At the end of the week, or when the poster is full, ask each child to read out something
s/he has written and give the definition, or only give the definition and the others
guess the word.

Variations:
Simple variant for Starters: you or children stick pictures on the sheet, and they give simple
definition–e.g. banana, It’s long and yellow. Monkeys eat/like it.

Writing Practice, Movers & Flyers: children try to write the complete definitions using words
from their class books, dictionaries etc. and then dictate them to the others, who try to draw
the object or write the sentence themselves.

Give Movers and Flyers plenty of practice in matching whole sentences and pictures, drawing their
attention to key elements of vocabulary or grammar by using pictures which make these differences clear.
Give them more pictures than sentences, so that they really have to pay attention to the distinctions
between for example, ‘spots’ and ‘stripes’, or ‘she is eating’ and ‘she has eaten’. Again, you can use
pictures from the sample papers or any practice book.

WRITING AND SPELLING PRACTICE

Young learners need to develop their reading skills and ability to recognise words before they
can begin to work on their writing skills. The motor skills for writing are still being developed in
very young learners, so plenty of copying is a good way to begin for Starters. Movers and even
the older Flyers children also enjoy experimenting with writing in another language and having
opportunities to practise. In most parts of the Young Learners papers spelling has to be correct.
In Part 2 of the Listening paper for Movers and Flyers some inaccurate spelling is accepted
(more difficult or less common words), while any word being tested for Spelling in Starters Part
2 will be spelt out.

 Use the simple reading and speaking card games above for writing and copying
practice.
 Use the fun activities that you would use for letter formation in their mother tongue, such
as body spelling, (where children ‘write’ with their fingers on each other’s backs) or air
spelling (where they ‘write’ in the air). The others can sometimes guess the words.
 Do short warmer activities at the beginning of class by writing anagrams of words they
know on the board. The higher the level, the wider the range of words.

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  Another quick warmer is to give mini-dictations of individual words. You could do this in
teams and have a running race to see which group can write the words correctly on the
board first.
 Set up a word gallery on the wall, with words on coloured card posted in different parts
of the room (use the same colour for all cards so that children know what to look for,
especially if you have lots of other things on your classroom walls). The children go
round the classroom copying down all the words they can in a given time limit. Then
gather the words together from the wall and see who copied the most words correctly.
 ‘Spelling Alphabet Maze’: give out envelopes with sets of alphabet letters to small
groups. Make a master copy of alphabet letters, with extra letters of those used most
frequently, e.g. A E I O U R S T. Make sure you also include at least two lots of frequent
double letters, such as LL. Say a word the class knows. First group to pick out the
correct letters and form the word is the winner, and can choose the next word to be
spelt.
 For Movers & Flyers ask questions about short texts, with answers that only have to be
copied from the text.

Spelling Word Cards – all levels

Aim: to practise spelling and revise vocabulary

Materials: word cards and notebooks for children
Organisation: small groups

1. Prepare sets of word cards based on different topic areas. Either choose words in one
topic area or prepare a different topic for each group. (You can find this activity on the
Teaching Resource site, with ready-made topic cards to be cut out, e.g. Starter&
Movers, animals & body parts, Movers & Flyers, places).
2. Give out the sets. Children look at a card, then cover the word and try to write it from
memory.
3. They then uncover the word and check the correct spelling.
4. They repeat the procedure until the word is spelt correctly. Once the groups have
finished working on their topic they can change cards around or take a new topic set
next time. For Movers and Flyers extend the cards in later weeks to expressions or
even whole sentences (short for Movers, longer for Flyers).

Variations:
1. Give them jumbled letters to match to word cards.
2. ‘Tippex’ out one or two letters in the word card, children have to write word correctly in
their notebook and then check full word on back of card, or in class dictionary.
3. One child spells a word out loud, the others choose the correct word card or matching
picture (partner or team activity, with points).
4. Teacher – or child, more challenging – selects a word card from the pile (or, for
Starters, from the wall so that word can be seen) and spells it with one deliberate
mistake. Children all shout out wrong letter and spell it correctly.
For Movers and Flyers this can be extended to include a grammar check, using
phrases and then whole sentences that include, e.g. wrong “s” (sing/plural, third
person “s” missing / wrong tense match, wrong preposition).
5. See 2) above. Make spelling cards with the class. The children draw a picture to
represent one or two words and draw dotted lines to indicate the number of letters,
giving the first letter only (e.g. H---- B------- and picture of a birthday cake. Swap cards,
and children in pairs write their answers in their notebooks. The right answer is on the
other side of the card and so they can self-correct.

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WARM-UPS TO COMBINE LISTENING, SPEAKING, READING AND WRITING:
Movers and Flyers (also good for past tense structures)

1. Begin the lesson by asking the children about the previous day’s/week’s activities. They
can also ask each other in groups or pairs and then report back to the class.
2. For the next morning prepare some cards of different activities e.g. take the dog for a
walk, fly a kite, etc., with a day of the week written on the back of each one).
3. Children take it in turns to pick a card, say the day of the week and then mime the
activity.
4. The rest of the class have to guess the activity and say (e.g. On Wednesday you took
the dog for a walk).
5. In small groups, they work together to write the sentence on a large piece of paper and
hold it up or pin it to the wall, then check each other’s writing for correct grammar and
spelling, underlining any errors. As an optional activity you can use a ‘chain story’ to add
a few more details to the tale of the walk with the dog (they either ask the person who
mimed the activity some questions (what is the dog’s name / where did you go...) or
each small group adds an imaginary detail themselves.
6. Repeat for three or four miming actions with different children, but keep the same groups
for writing. In their quiet period later in the morning they work together to write new
sentences using any words they had wrong earlier, and/or choose one of the expanded
stories to write about.
7. Check this work and underline any errors. The next day they go around the room
searching for words marked wrong in their text (on the wall, in class file boxes, in their
own English notebooks, in story books etc.), and write them into their notebooks again.
8. You can also do this kind of error correction with gap texts given to the children.
9. Remember to praise them for all the words they get right.

More storytelling Movers and Flyers

Classroom activity 1
1) Take a picture story, such as the Movers or Flyers one in the Sample papers pack.
2) Cut out the individual pictures and give one picture to each group of 2–4 students.
3) Write these questions on the board:
 Who can you see in the picture?
 Where are they?
 What are they doing?
 What else can you see?
4) Each group says or writes sentences about their picture.
5) Regroup students so that they include students who have worked with all the pictures.
They do not show each other their pictures yet. Each student describes what they can see in
their picture. The group has to decide on an order for the pictures to go in and to tell the story.
6) Different groups tell their stories to the rest of the class.

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