YLE Movers Speaking Part 2 - Teacher's Notes: Description

YLE Movers Speaking Part 2 Teachers Notes
Description
This activity gives students practice in describing pictures before they do a sample task from
the Movers test.
Time required:
20 25 minutes
Materials
required:
Sample Task, one copy for each group of three students
Aims:
to introduce students to Part 2 of the Movers Speaking paper and to

the task type
to give students practice in describing pictures
to give students practice in using social language and language

asking for repetition and clarification
Before the class

1. Choose about four pictures from the course book to practise descriptions. They do
not have to be on the same page or even in the same unit, but they should be in units
that students have already studied. Select pictures which show people doing actions
and which contain objects and colour e.g. a kitchen scene with a family eating
breakfast, a caf scene with people eating and ordering.
Procedure
2. Greet the students by saying e.g. Hello, everyone. Prompt students to reply to you
Hello. Tell the students that they are going to talk about pictures today and then they
are going to do a sample task from the Movers test.
3. Ask students to open their course books and look at the first picture you have
chosen. Depending on the ability of the class, either ask different students to
describe the picture for you, or provide a model by describing the picture for the
class. Use a range of the following structures:
the present continuous of some action verbs
the present of the verb to be
have got
the modals can/cant and must/mustnt
expressions to describe simple feelings, e.g. She is unhappy.
If you describe the picture, then ask students to describe it back to you afterwards.
4. Ask students to look at the other three pictures. In pairs they describe each of the
pictures orally.
5. Elicit descriptions from the students for each picture. Prompt students to use
appropriate classroom language when listening to each others descriptions, as well
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as using this language yourself, e.g. I dont understand. Can you repeat that, please?
Again, please? Sorry? Encourage students to repeat what they have said
themselves: dont repeat their sentences for them too quickly.
6. The descriptions do not have to be long: three or four sentences are enough.
Students should use the range of language you provided in the model in Step 3. If
students do not do this, prompt them by asking e.g. Do you think he is happy? / Can
he see the bird in the tree?
7. Make groups of three. Hand out the Sample Task to each group. Tell them that this
is a task from the second part of the Movers Speaking test. Tell students to look
through the whole story silently first. Then elicit:
How many pictures are there? (four pictures, 14)
Are the pictures connected? (Yes, they make a story)
What do you think you have to do? (children have to describe each picture
in the story. They do not have to show story telling skills or develop a
narrative e.g. they do not have to use first, then, next, after that.)
8. Quickly elicit some of the things/people they can see in the pictures. Provide a
description of the first picture (the examiner provides this in the test): Fred is sad. He
cant play football. His ball is very old. His mums saying Take the dog to the park.
Students then continue to describe the pictures in their groups. Monitor and help with
ideas if necessary.
9. Elicit the descriptions of the other three pictures first from one group of three, and
then from another. The descriptions do not have to be long, but should contain a
range of structures as mentioned in Step 3 and Step 6. If the rest of the class do not
hear or understand something their fellow students say, prompt them to use the
appropriate classroom language.(See key below.)
10. At the end of the activity, elicit/establish the following with the students:
they should take their time to look at the pictures and should not worry if they
dont understand the story; they should still try and describe what they can
see
the examiner will start the story by talking about the first picture
they should try to talk about different things in the pictures, e.g. what people
are doing, what they can/cant or must/mustnt do, how they are feeling
they can point to the pictures as they talk about them if they cant remember
how to say something in English
if they dont understand anything the examiner says to them, they should say
e.g. I dont understand. Can you repeat, please? Again, please? Sorry?
Examiners will be impressed that students asked them in English.
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Suggested follow-up activities

1. Students can work in pairs and write the story in their notebooks.
2. With other picture stories like this, you can cut up the pictures before you give them
to groups of students. The groups sequence the pictures to make a story. When
students do this activity, you may find that groups of students do not all end up with
the same sequence or story. This is not a problem. It encourages students to be
creative and to use a variety of language.
Additional information
There are three aspects that are assessed in the Movers Speaking Test:
Reception listening and interaction
Production appropriacy, promptness and extent of response
Production pronunciation .
Each criterion carries a maximum mark of 3.

In the Test, each student is taken into the examination room by an usher. The usher is
someone who speaks the students first language and who is possibly known to the student
e.g. a teacher. The usher explains the test format in the students mother tongue, before
taking the student into the examination room and introducing him/her to the examiner.
Movers is aimed at students who have some experience of speaking English and probably
also have some experience of test situations. Movers builds on the foundations laid at
Starters level by asking the students to give more extended responses (e.g. describing a
picture) as well as showing their comprehension of what the examiner says. Candidates
may be asked questions such as 'Where do you go after school?' or 'Tell me about your
favourite sport.'
At this level, candidates are expected to answer with greater expansion than at Starters
level, and to answer reasonably promptly, although they are not penalised for taking their
time to think in tasks such as Tell the Story or Find the Odd-one-out.
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YLE Movers Speaking Part 2 Answer Key

Key to Procedure step 9 (suggested answers):
Picture 2: Fred and his dog are in the park. The dogs excited. The dog/ Hes looking at a
bag. Freds angry. Fred doesnt like it.
Picture 3: Freds mum is talking on the phone. Fred and the dog are listening. Theyre
happy/smiling. Freds mum has got the phone number of a woman. Its the womans bag.
Freds mum is phoning to tell the woman about the bag.
Picture 4: Fred is opening a box. Theres a new football in the box. Its a present from the
woman because Fred found her bag. Freds very happy!
YLE Movers Speaking Part 2 Answer Key
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YLE Movers Speaking Part 2 Sample Task
YLE Movers Speaking Part 2 Sample Task
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YLE Movers Speaking Part 2 - Teacher's Notes: Description

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YLE Movers Speaking Part 2 Teachers Notes

Sample Task, one copy for each group of three students

to introduce students to Part 2 of the Movers Speaking paper and to

to give students practice in describing pictures

to give students practice in using social language and language

Before the class

the present continuous of some action verbs

the present of the verb to be

the modals can/cant and must/mustnt

expressions to describe simple feelings, e.g. She is unhappy.