Using the Writing

assessment criteria and

preparing students for the
Writing tasks
www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams/young-learners-english
Table of contents

Handout 1 ................................................................................................................................ 3

Handout 2 ................................................................................................................................ 4

Handout 3 ................................................................................................................................ 5

Handout 4 ................................................................................................................................ 7

Activity sheet 1 .......................................................................................................................10

2 Using the Writing assessment criteria and preparing students for the Writing tasks
Handout 1

Movers Part 6

A total of 10 marks are available for this part.

Questions 1 and 2
Candidates can score a maximum of 1 mark for each of Questions 1 and 2.
1 mark is awarded for a response that provides an accurate representation of the picture.

Questions 3–6
Candidates can score a maximum of 2 marks for each of Questions 3–6.
1 mark is available for a response which is comprehensible.
1 mark is available for a response which is an accurate representation of the picture.
Candidates are expected to write two different sentences for Questions 5 and 6, and these
should be distinct from sentences provided earlier on in the task, i.e. for Questions 1–4.

3 YLE Reading & Writing paper: The new writing tasks

Handout 2
Flyers Part 7

A total of 5 marks are available for this part.

5 marks
• Response describes a progression of events which are explicitly connected to each
other and
• Response is based on all three pictures and
• Minimal effort is required on the part of the reader to make sense of the response.

4 marks
• Response describes a progression of events, some of which are explicitly connected to
each other and
• Response is based on all three pictures and
• Some effort is required on the part of the reader to make sense of the response.

3 marks
• Response describes a progression of events and response addresses at least one of
the pictures or
• Response describes a progression of events and addresses all three pictures but
imposes a significant strain on the reader, who may be required to read it more than
once in order to make sense of it.

2 marks

• Response includes at least one phrase that is clearly comprehensible.

1 mark
• Response includes some English words discernible by the reader.

0 marks
• Question unattempted or totally incomprehensible response.

4 Using the Writing assessment criteria and preparing students for the Writing tasks
Handout 3
Self/Peer assessment tools

My Flyers Writing

My name: _____________________

How did you do?

Draw your face!

Great! OK Need to work more

  
I wrote a story

I used words to
connect the
pictures

I wrote about all

three pictures

I wrote sentences

My teacher can
understand my
writing

I think I did well

I know what I can

do better next time

5 YLE Reading & Writing paper: The new writing tasks

 My Movers Writing

My name: _____________________

How did you do?

Draw your face!

Great! OK Need to work more

  
I wrote about
the picture

I wrote
sentences

My teacher
can
understand my
writing

I think I did
well

I know what I
can do better
next time

6 Using the Writing assessment criteria and preparing students for the Writing tasks
Handout 4
Suggested activities to help prepare learners for the Cambridge English: Young
Learners exams

1. Relevance: relating content to the picture prompts (Movers and Flyers)

Odd one out
A: Show a picture and a list of four words (taken from the Movers/Flyers wordlist). Three are
relevant to the picture, one isn’t. Students write/circle/call out the odd one out.
B: Next, show another picture. Pairs brainstorm as many relevant words as possible. This
could be done as a game, where team members take it in turns to rush to the board and write
a relevant word. The team with the most words wins. Better than a reward or marks is to give
that team a responsibility (e.g. they select the next picture).
C: Distribute pictures to pairs. Pairs have to write an ‘odd one out’ word set to challenge
another pair.
N.B. This activity could be made more challenging at Flyers level by asking for sentences
rather than words.

2. Progression, cohesion and coherence (Flyers)

Picture sequences
A: Pairs can put stages of a story in order. Alternatively, show a series of pictures with an odd
one out (one that doesn’t fit). Students talk to their partner to decide which picture doesn’t fit
and why.
B: Give students some sentences that describe each picture/stage of the story, perhaps also
including one or more that is not relevant. Students match the sentences to the
pictures/stages.
C: Last, students link the sentences together with sequencing devices (linking words such as
then, next, etc. and other words that join sentences together in a text, such as using he and
she and articles a then the. The Flyers wordlist can be used together with your course
syllabus).
D: Students construct the story. It is a good idea to start with students working in pairs for this
activity, moving on later to individual writing when repeated. Alternatively, students can plan
the story in pairs and then write the story individually. They can then compare their writing and
peer assess.

7 YLE Reading & Writing paper: The new writing tasks

3. Progression and cohesion (Flyers)
My daily routine
A: Review vocabulary for daily routine with the class.
B: Play a miming game in pairs. Student A mimes their morning routine, and Student B takes
notes. Then pairs change roles.
C: Each student then writes three linked sentences about their partner’s daily routine using
words such as then, after that and so on.
D: The partners check each other’s writing for relevancy of content and for linking of ideas.

4. Comprehensibility (Movers or Flyers)

Substitution game – work at syntax level
A: Have students work in groups, or with a very small class have one group sitting in a circle.
Give the first student a sentence (something similar to one they’d be expected to write in
Movers Part 6). The student has to change one word. This can be done orally or in writing.
B: The next student then has to change a word in the new sentence.
C: Then the next student changes another word and so on. You can introduce rules or
limitations, such as: which words can/can’t be changed; it could be within a certain topic; it
might need to be alphabetical.

5. Comprehensibility (Movers)
Jumbled sentences – work at syntax level
A: Write a jumbled sentence (a sentence with the words in the wrong order: take a typical
sentence from Movers/Flyers) on the board, or use laminated word cards.
B: Students reorder the words. You could ask a student to come out and reorder the words or
you can give each student a word card and they should stand in order to make a sentence.
C: Repeat, but have students write the correct sentence. You could have students work in
pairs with one student in each pair facing the board, while the other cannot see the board. The
first student dictates the jumbled sentence to their partner, who writes down the words in
jumbled order, before reordering the words and writing the correct sentence. Get pairs to race
with each other to write the correct sentence to raise energy and motivation.

6. Comprehensibility (Flyers)
Jumbled sentences – work at syntax level
A: Similar to activity 6. Give students a selection of words to choose from to create sentences.
They can include some funny words, they could all be nouns and/or verbs and/or adjectives
and/or adverbs etc. that need to have sentences built around them.
B: Get students to compete to come up with as many sentences as possible.

8 Using the Writing assessment criteria and preparing students for the Writing tasks
7. Comprehensibility (Flyers)
Dictogloss – work at syntax level
A: Read or tell a short story (begin with very short, and get longer when repeating the activity).
You might need to repeat it two to three times.
B: Students work in groups of four. Each student should listen for a different part of speech,
and write down all of them that they hear in the story, e.g. Student A listens and writes down
all the nouns, Student B listens and writes down all the verbs, Student C the adjectives,
Student D the adverbs. You will want to use terms to describe those that you usually use in
your class (e.g. action words = verbs).
C: Students then work in their group to reconstruct and rewrite the story.

8. Developing writing skills at sentence level (Movers or Flyers)

About me
A: Ask students to bring in a photo of themselves (or they could draw a picture).
B: Students write about the picture. It could be based on questions (from you or from another
student), it could be gapped or it could be a freer description.
C: Display the pictures and the writing in the classroom, on the class website (as students’
profile pictures, if relevant) or use them to create a class ‘year book’.

9 YLE Reading & Writing paper: The new writing tasks

Activity sheet 1

Example sentences for Movers activity

Materials Sentences to be cut up, one sentence for each pair. They can be
duplicated for a larger group and could be laminated if to be reused.
Rationale The sentences will be used for a participants’ activity for Movers Part 6.

The boys and the dog are laughing.

The children are playing in the park.

Sam and Tom are fishing.

It’s raining.

There are two cats next to the river.

They caught three fish and a boot.

The dog is looking for fish in the river.

get fun.

10 Using the Writing assessment criteria and preparing students for the Writing tasks