YLE Starters Listening Part 1 Teachers Notes

Description
This activity gives students practice in demonstrating their understanding of prepositions and classroom
objects. This activity also provides useful practice for Listening Part 1.

Time 1015 minutes.

required:
Materials classroom objects e.g. pen , pencil , book , ruler, eraser/rubber, desk
required: Sample audio recording with this resource

YLE Starters Sample Papers can be downloaded from the Cambridge English
website
Aims: to introduce students to Part 1 of the Starters Listening paper and to the task type
to give students practice in responding physically to instructions and in listening
carefully to and understanding prepositions.

Procedure
1. Introduce the activity
First ask students to clear their desks. Then ask them to take out at least 6 classroom objects
and put them on their desks.
For example:
Put a blue pencil, a red pencil and a green pencil on your desk.
Put an eraser on your desk.
Put a pen on your desk.
Put your English book on your desk.
Put a ruler on your desk.
Then either use the following set of instructions or write your own, making sure that each
instruction includes a preposition of place.

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 Give each instruction one by one and let students move the object before giving the next
instruction. For example:
Put the pen between the blue pencil and the red pencil.
Put the ruler in your English book.
Put the eraser under your English book.
Put the green pencil on your English book.
2. Useful language for the activity
Tell students to put all the objects on one side of their desks. Elicit and then write the
sentence prompts you used on the board
For example:
Put the (eraser) (under) the (book).
Ask students to give you the prepositions you used and check students understanding by
asking for demonstrations. Then write the prepositions on the board.
3. Activity
Either Students take turns to give each other instructions and move the objects. Ask
one pair to demonstrate the activity first for the rest of the class to see.
Or Students put up a book between them so they cant see each others desks. Student
A arranges the objects on his/her desk. Then he/she gives instructions for Student B to
arrange the objects in the same way on his/her desk. Ask one pair to demonstrate the
activity first for the rest of the class to see.
When student A has given all the instructions they compare their desks. Then they change
roles: student B arranges the objects and tells student A where to put his/her objects.
Monitor the students carefully to check that they are doing the activity correctly.
4. Sample Task introducing the task
Tell students to place their book in the centre of the desk and to put the objects around the
book.
Give instructions, as in Step 1. This time students dont move the objects. Instead they
mime drawing a line from the object to where it should go.

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use provided no charge is made. For further information see our Terms and Conditions
 For example:
For the instruction Put the pen between the blue pencil and the red pencil, students put a
finger on the pen and then move their finger and then place it between the blue pencil and
the red pencil. This gives them practice with the task in the test.
Hand out the Sample Task. Tell students to look carefully at the pictures before they listen
and to think about where things might go.
Tell students that they are going to hear a man and a woman talking to each other and that
they have to listen to find the answer to the questions.
Make sure students realise that:
they draw lines from 5 of the objects pictured
the objects in the pictures are not all from the same word family, e.g. in this Sample
Task they are not all classroom objects.
Remind students that they will always hear each part twice.
5. Sample Task complete the task
Tell students to take out a pencil and a ruler.
Play the recording or read the transcript aloud to the class. If you read it aloud, read it
twice.
Ask students to check their answers in pairs.
Check answers with the class.

Suggested follow-up activity

Students arrange the objects on their desks as they choose. Then they write a description
in their notebooks (e.g. The blue pencil is next to the ruler), and make a drawing of their
desk under the text.

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use provided no charge is made. For further information see our Terms and Conditions
YLE Starters Listening Part 1 Answer Key

Key to Sample Task

Lines should be drawn between:
1. Clock and between two pictures on wall
2. Book and under table
3. Phone and on mat
4. Camera and in cupboard
5. Shell and on table next to robot

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Transcript for Step 5:
Original can be found on Page 11 of YLE Starters Listening Sample Paper, which can be
downloaded from the Cambridge English website.
R Hello. This is the University of Cambridge Starters Listening test.
Look at Part One. Now look at the picture. Listen and look. There is one example.
F Put the radio on the bookcase.
M Sorry? Put the radio where?
F On the bookcase.
M Right.
R Can you see the line? This is an example. Now you listen and draw lines.
One
F Put the clock between the two pictures.
M Pardon? Where do I put the clock?
F On the wall. Between the two pictures.
M OK.
R Two
F Now put the book under the table.
M Sorry? Put the book where?
F Put it under the small table.
M Right. I can do that.
R Three
F And now, please put the phone on the mat.
M The phone?
F Yes. Put it on the mat.
M All right. Im drawing that line now.
R Four
F Now the camera! Put it in the cupboard.
M Where?
F Put the camera in the cupboard.
M OK.
R Five
F And now put the shell on the table, next to the robot.
M Sorry? Put the shell where?
F Put it on the table, next to the robot.
M Yes. OK.
R Now listen to Part One again. That is the end of Part One.

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YLE Starters Listening Part 1 Sample Task

Original can be found on Page 4 of YLE Starters Listening Sample Paper, which can be
downloaded from the Cambridge English website.

UCLES 2014. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom
use provided no charge is made. For further information see our Terms and Conditions