Meet Nedda, Bolt and Clunk! As a part of our support for teachers of Pre A1 Starters, A1 Movers and A2 Flyers, we are continuing our series of exam vocabulary worksheets. Each worksheet introduces children to a unique character designed by children from around the world with fun exercises to help them prepare for their exams.
Last week, we introduced you to Max, Oksi and Hunter. This week, we introduce Nedda, Bolt and Clunk, designed by children in the UK, Spain and South Korea. As with our previous blogs in the series, here are some ideas for introducing the worksheets with classes:
Meet Nedda – Pre A1 Starters
Stick 10 flashcards of the animals from page 2 of the Pre A1 Starters Nedda Worksheet on the board, or show them on a screen. (You can download the Pre-A1 Starters flashcards here). Point to the mouse and ask: What’s this? (a mouse). Repeat with the elephant, then ask different learners to point to an animal and ask the question and another learner answers. Learners can continue in pairs.
Then, tell learners to close their eyes (or turn their backs to the board) and remove or cover one flashcard. Learners look and say which animal is missing: There’s no mouse. Repeat with another flashcard: There’s no mouse or lizard. You can continue until there are no flashcards left and challenge learners to say all 10 animals!
Share the Nedda worksheet and introduce Nedda and Zak. Ask learners which animals Nedda doesn’t like and ask them what a unicorn is and looks like. If possible, show a picture of a unicorn and talk about it: A unicorn’s big. It has four legs and a long face and tail like a horse.
Point to the pictures at the bottom of page 1 and ask learners which pictures are animals (elephant, mouse, spiders), which are parts of the body (eyes, legs) and which are things we can ride on (bike, bus). Which isn’t an animal, part of the body or something you ride on? (monsters).
After explaining the exercise with learners by using the example (eyes and legs), and pointing out which pictures show singular nouns (mouse, elephant, bus, bike) and which show plurals (monsters, spiders), tell learners to write the other words on the lines.
Once you check answers, the class can read out Nedda’s sentences, using a loud voice for the elephant and monsters and a quiet one for the mouse and spiders and miming driving a bus and riding a bike!
In exercise 2, learners can add more animals to the lists of big, small, scary and funny animals.
For even more fun, your students can make a rap with the sentences in exercise 3.
Meet Bolt – A1 Movers
Tell learners to listen and write letters, then say the words: e-a-v-c (cave); t-o-r-f-s-t-e (forest); l-a-c-p-e (place). Ask: Is there a cave/forest near here? Do you like these places?
Share the Bolt worksheet and ask learners: Does Bolt like forests and caves? (forests – yes, caves – no).
Learners write the place words on the lines in exercise 1, then they say what they like doing (or why they don’t like) in the places.
They can choose another place and jumble the letters, then say them to other learners, who say and spell the word.
Learners draw lines between the two parts in exercise 2, then, in pairs, one learner invites their partner to do the things: e.g. I’d like to go to the cinema to watch a film. What about you? and they answer: e.g. Of course!
After learners complete exercise 3, they can write sentences like the ones in exercise 2 to invite their classmates to do things with them. e.g. How about skipping in the playground in the break?
Meet Clunk – A2 Flyers
Draw 2 circles on the board and write these words or show these circles on the screen:
Learners make pairs of words to make exclamations (!) or questions (?).
Draw a comic exclamation and speech bubble on the board and ask: Where can you find these? (in comics).
Share the A2 Flyers Clunk Worksheet and point to these shapes in the story.
Look at the title of the story and ask learners how Clunk might help Zak. Then, they read the story and find out. Tell learners about a problem you had and how someone helped you. Then learners can tell their own stories.
In exercise 4, discuss why it’s important to use expressions like Please! and Thanks! and others, like Well done!, You’re welcome!, etc. Tell them you’d like to use these in class when they do activities together.
Follow up ideas
Learners can write their own character cards like the ones for Nedda, Bolt and Clunk, using a photo or drawing of themselves. Or, they could draw a new character and complete the card.
Download the worksheets by clicking on each of the images above. Otherwise, you can download them here:
Nedda – Pre A1 Starters worksheet
Bolt – A1 Movers worksheet
Clunk – A2 Flyers worksheet
For more ideas on preparing young learners for exams, catch up with our experts in our Catch Up FUN series, here.