Skills for Life Entry 1 Speaking and Listening: All Parts Teacher’s

Notes

Description
This activity familiarises students with the phases of the Entry 1 Speaking and Listening test and the kind of
instructions they might hear. Students practise Phase 2, answering questions about listening texts and
holding a short discussion together.

Teacher’s Notes

Aims of the lesson • to familiarise students with the different phases of the
Skills for Life Entry 1 Speaking and Listening test
• to familiarise students with the instructions used in the
test
• to familiarise students with the nature of the listening
scripts and questions on them
• to help students to identify coherence between questions
and answers
• to familiarise students with some functional aspects of
conversation

Time needed 30 minutes

Materials required • Student’s Worksheet 1– one per student

• Student’s Worksheet 2 – one per student
• Audio recording with this resource or downloaded from:
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-
qualifications/skills-for-life/how-to-prepare/
(Speaking and Listening mode, version 6)

Procedure
1. Ask students what they already know about the Speaking and Listening test. Acknowledge whatever
they say, without commenting on whether it is accurate or not.
2. Explain that they are going to check whether their ideas are right by looking at the test in more detail.
Give out Student’s Worksheet 1. Allow a few minutes for them to read through the summary of the
test.

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 3. Explain that you will read some instructions that the examiner will give them in the test. They should
listen and decide which part of the test each instruction comes from, and write the appropriate letter in
the last column in the table. Read the following aloud:
A In this part of the test, you are going to listen to two recordings and answer some questions.
You can make notes if you want to. You hear some people talking about travelling to work. Do
they travel to work by car, bus or train?
B Maria, I’d like you to ask Walid about the things he does at college. Walid, I’d like you to ask
Maria about the people she likes to be with. Now think about the questions you want to ask.
You have one-and-a-half minutes. You can write down your questions if you want to.
C Now you’re going to talk together about travel. Tell each other about what transport you use
and what you like and what you don’t like about it.
D Where do you come from?
4. Check the answers together (see below). As you do so, ask these additional questions.
Phase 1a (answer D). Who asks the questions in this part? (the examiner)
Will they be difficult questions? (no)
Do the two candidates ask each other questions? (no)
Phase 1b (answer B). Who are Maria and Walid? (two candidates. The examiner uses the candidates’
own names)
Do you have a choice of topic to ask about? (no)
Phase 2a (answer A). Does the examiner ask you a question before you hear the recordings? (yes)
Should you answer the question before you hear the recordings? (no – you
could only guess what the speakers are going to say)
Explain that they will hear the recordings twice.
Phase 2b (answer C). Should you give your own opinions? (yes)
Should you ask the other candidate what they think? (yes)
5. Explain that Exercise 2 on Worksheet 1 focuses on the listening part of the test. Tell them that in the
test they are shown three photographs to help them. Ask students, in pairs, to read the instructions
and to predict possible answers to questions 1–3. (1: the answer must be one of the three options, i.e.
car, bus or train; 2: one or more people, e.g. family, colleagues; 3: a time, probably in the morning,
e.g. 7.30 a.m.).
6. Ask students to listen and answer question 1 only as they listen. One-word answers are fine. Explain
that you will read the script once. Read the following tapescript 1, or play the recording from the
website (see above):
‘How do I travel to work? Well, the roads are very busy so I get the train with my friend. It’s expensive,
but that’s OK because it’s very fast. I leave home at 8 o’clock and we meet at the railway station. Only
the boss drives to work because there’s one parking place – for him!’
7. Check the answer (train). You may want to point out that, although ‘car’ is mentioned, it’s not the
answer to the question.
8. Now ask students to predict possible answers to questions 4–6 (4: the answer must be one of the
three options, i.e. car, bus or train; 5: one or more people, e.g. family, colleagues; 6: a number of
minutes, e.g. 15 minutes, 50 minutes).

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 9. Ask students to listen and answer question 4 only as they listen. One-word answers are fine. Explain
that you will read the script once. Read tapescript 2, or play the recording from the website (see
above):
‘Do I go to work by train? No. It’s much too expensive – £9. So I go in my car with a neighbour. He
gives me money to pay for the petrol so it’s quite cheap. It’s about 35 minutes to drive to work, but
over an hour by public transport.’
10. Check the answers. Now refer students back to questions 2 and 3. Read these aloud, then read/play
tapescript 1 again for students to listen for the answers. Repeat for tapescript 2 (referring to questions
5 and 6) before checking answers together. (See Key to step 10.)
11. Point out the need to listen carefully and to predict what the speakers might say. Also point out that in
the test, each candidate must answer the questions on their own. They will answer one question after
the first listening, and then two more on the second listening about the other tapescript. Answer any
questions from students about Phase 2a before moving on to Phase 2b.
12. Remind students that in the second part of Phase 2, they have to talk together about a topic
connected to the listening texts. Elicit what the topic was (travel, travelling to work). Give out
Student’s Worksheet 2, Exercise 3. This focuses on a few functions in conversation that would be
useful in this part. Allow a few minutes for students to work in pairs to complete the exercise. Feed
back. (See Key to Worksheet 2.)
13. Refer students to Exercise 4. With a partner, they should expand the words into full questions. Do the
first one together as an example (What’s your favourite way to travel?) When they have finished
expanding the questions, they should write down one or two other questions about travel or transport
of their own. Monitor, and check the answers together. (See Key to Worksheet 2.) Allow variations
as long as they are grammatically correct, make sense and are about travel or transport.
14. Tell students they are now going to talk about travel in pairs. If possible, change the pairings so they
are working with a different student from Step 13. Allow 3 minutes for this. Monitor and note any
particularly effective questions or pieces of interaction, to praise afterwards. Point out that the
conversation they have had is also good practice for the second part of Phase 1.
15. Ask if they feel more confident about the test, and which parts they would like more practice in. Ask
how they can improve their speaking and listening. (See key to step 15.)

Additional information
• For further information about assessment, see the Skills for Life Handbook.

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Skills for Life Entry 1 Speaking and Listening: All Parts
Answer Keys
Key to Procedure steps
Step 10:
1. by train. He/she says, ‘I get the train’, and also says ‘it’s very fast’ and refers to ‘the railway
station’.
2. his/her friend
3. 8 o’clock
4. by car. He/she says, ‘I go in my car’, and also refers to ‘petrol’ and ‘drive’
5. a neighbour
6. 35 minutes

Step 15:
Ideas for improving speaking skills: joining a club or going to places where British people meet and
socialise; starting at least one conversation a day, e.g. in a shop or at college; setting a time when they talk
to each other in English for a fixed period, e.g. 30 minutes.
Ideas for improving listening skills: watching TV (including short programmes, such as children’s
programmes), films (with and without subtitles in students’ own language), listening to the radio and/or music
in English, sitting on buses and listening to people talking to each other. Encourage them to predict or
imagine what they’re going to hear in a particular situation from the context, e.g. at a bus stop, people often
complain that the bus is late or talk about the weather.

Key to Student’s Worksheet 2

Exercise 3

1. Agree: Yes, me too.

2. Disagree: I don’t agree.
3. Ask a question: Do you enjoy travelling?
4. Give your opinion: I think buses are very expensive.

Exercise 4

1. What is your favourite way to travel?

2. What ways do people usually travel in your country?
3. Is it easy to travel by bicycle in your country?
4. What was the last place you travelled to?
5. Where do you want to travel to?

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Skills for Life Entry 1 Speaking and Listening: All Parts
Student’s Worksheet 1

Exercise 1

Listen to your teacher. Match the instructions to one part of the test

Part Who is speaking? What do you do? What is the topic? Instructions
1a examiner to answer questions personal factual
candidate information
1b candidate to ask and answer familiar topic
candidate questions
2a recording listen and answer simple factual information
questions
2b candidate to discuss information, simple topic connected to
candidate likes and dislikes, 2a
experiences, etc.

Exercise 2
Phase 2, Part 1

You will hear some people talking about travelling to work. First, think about possible answers. Then answer
the questions.

Do they travel to work by:

car? bus? train?

1 Does the first speaker travel to work by car, bus or train? ………………………
2 Who does the speaker travel to work with? ……………………….………………
3 What time does he/she leave home? ………………………………………………

4 Does the second speaker travel to work by car, bus or train? ………..…………
5 Who does he/she travel to work with? …………………………………………..…
6 How many minutes is the journey by car? …………………………………………

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Skills for Life Entry 1 Speaking and Listening: All Parts
Student’s Worksheet 2

Phase 2, Part 2
Exercise 3

Match the words on the left (1–4) with the right example.

1 Agree Do you enjoy travelling?

2 Disagree I think buses are very expensive.
3 Ask a question Yes, me too.
4 Give your opinion I don’t agree.

Exercise 4
Make these words into questions about travel.

Questions
1. What/favourite/travel?

2. What ways/people/travel/in your country?

3. easy/by bicycle/in your country?

4. What/place/travelled to?

5. Where/want/travel to?

Now write two or three more questions about travel or transport.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Talk to a partner about travel:

 what transport you use
 what you like about it
 what you don’t like about it.
Use the phrases in Exercise 3, the questions you wrote, and your own questions.

© UCLES 2014. For further information see our Terms and Conditions.
Information is correct as of January 2015