Pre A1 Starters

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Build confidence with pictures, short sentences and simple conversations across Pre A1 Starters.

  • Build understanding of simple instructions and everyday words before practising exam tasks
  • Turn recognised words into readable, spellable and speakable short sentences
  • Use picture tasks to understand questions, identify detail and describe briefly
  • Create confidence for a first English assessment through positive feedback and short tasks
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Course highlights

Move from recognition to understanding Learners connect pictures, sound and text rather than guessing from task appearance.
Follow simple instructions
Identify people, objects, position, colour, number and basic action.
Connect sound and spelling
Hear common words and record letters or basic spelling accurately.
Read complete short sentences
Understand simple statements and questions instead of searching for one word.
 Build the confidence to speak clearly Use familiar pictures and objects to practise pointing, answering and describing with less hesitation.
Understand the question
Recognise who, what, where and how many questions.
Answer in short sentences
Extend one-word answers with a subject, action and detail.
Interact with instructions
Move, point to or select picture objects and answer follow-up questions.
 Focus on progress, not pass-or-fail pressure Young Learners uses shields to show skill performance, so preparation builds a usable foundation for the next level.
Review by skill
Observe Listening, Reading and Writing, and Speaking separately.
Redo short tasks
Reuse corrected words and sentences in new pictures and contexts.
Prepare for Movers
Check readiness for longer sentences, more spelling and more independent output.
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Course content

Listening
About 20 minutes using pictures and short conversations to test basic understanding.
  • 4 parts
  • About 20 questions
  • Names, numbers, colours, objects and actions
Reading and Writing
About 20 minutes on words, short sentences, picture comprehension and basic spelling.
  • 5 parts
  • About 25 questions
  • Words, sentences and short texts
Speaking
A one-to-one examiner interaction using pictures, questions and short descriptions.
  • 4 parts
  • About 3–5 minutes
  • Picture and object-based interaction
Result
There is no pass or fail; the certificate reports performance in each skill with shields.
  • Listening shields
  • Reading and Writing shields
  • Speaking shields
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