Write it down!

Writing

Listen and write

A2 and above

Personal, public

75–90 minutes

Spelling, punctuation, dictation

This lesson focuses on the ‘listen and write’ item found in the EnglishScore Writing test.
In this item, test-takers listen to a short sentence of 5–15 words. Test-takers must write
down the text they hear.

- To raise awareness of the ‘listen and write’ exercise in EnglishScore Writing

- To develop strategies to complete this task successfully
- To improve spelling and punctuation skills when writing in English

- Print or download the lesson plan (pages ii–iv) for yourself ☐

- Print copies of the lesson for yourself and your students ☐
- Print enough copies of the cut-out to post around the classroom ☐
- If you plan to complete the optional activity, select a song and print out ☐
the lyrics with gaps added as described in the lesson plan

[Link] i
Topic Content Timing
(min)

Warmer 1. Print copies of the text in the Supplementary Material (at least one copy of 20–25
each sentence per four students) and post them around the classroom. It
doesn’t matter if you are teaching in a lecture hall – the important thing is to
get students moving.

Group students into pairs of 2. Assign each student as student A or student

B, and explain student A is the writer, while student B is the runner. Tell them
that student B must run to the text posted around the room, then return to
their partner and dictate the text. Student A must then write down what their
partner dictated. Explain that there are 6 different sentences posted around
the room, so they will need to find them all.

2. Halfway through, tell students to switch roles – the runner should now be the
writer, and the writer should be the runner. Clarify that the goal is not just to
finish fast, but to spell words correctly. If needed, the runner can go back to
check the spelling of a word, but the writer is not allowed to get up. This part
of the warmer should take at least 10 minutes.

(10–15 minutes)

3. Once everyone has finished, have teams swap papers and ask different
students to read out the sentences for you to write on the board. Spell words
as they tell you to spell them, then check with the other students to see if
they agree or not. Go through each sentence, explaining any unknown
vocabulary.

(5–10 minutes)

Presentation 1. Ask students what the exercise they just did was (key: dictation). Explain that 35–45
and Practice this is the first part of the EnglishScore Writing Test, called ‘Listen and write’.
Ask them, what is the goal of this type of exercise? What does it test exactly?
(e.g. listening comprehension; spelling; punctuation; the ability to understand
sentence structure, word order and connecting words) Give them 2–3 min to
discuss in the same pairs, then discuss their ideas together in class.

(5 minutes)

2. Give students the lesson handouts and ask them to look at a, Part 1,
Presentation and Practice. There, they will find a list of sentences that are
scrambled. In pairs or groups of 3–4, ask them to put the words in the
correct order to create sentences. Give them 5–7 min for this, then check
together. Note: for A2–B1 classes, use box A. For B2–C1 classes, use box B.

Key
Lower level
1. Maria’s birthday party was so much fun!
2. The neighbourhood is very quiet, but I prefer it this way.
3. Who forgot to put the food in the fridge again?
4. I am reading a book about a shop that sells maps.

[Link] ii
 Higher level
1. I’m participating in a dancing competition next week, so I need to practise.
2. Our company has decided to move to a new office closer to the train station.
3. I’m sorry, but the dentist is fully booked and cannot accept any new appointments.
4. He always talks about how beautiful his country is, so I really want to visit it.

(7–10 minutes)

3. Ask students how they knew how to put the sentences in the correct order.
Elicit that each sentence follows a certain structure: subject–verb–object.
There may be other words around – what are they? (adjectives describing
the subject or object, adverbs describing the verb, prepositions, articles).

Together, go through the first sentence and underline the verbs, put the
subjects in a box and circle the objects.

Explain that understanding the structure of a sentence is key for dictation as

it helps you anticipate what you’re going to hear and also to interpret the
role of any word you’re not sure you’ve heard right. It also helps with
homophones that serve different functions (words that sound the same but
are spelled differently based on meaning).

In the same pairs/groups, ask students to go through the rest of the

sentences again and do the same. Give them 3–4 min for this, then check
together.

Note: For higher levels, you can elicit that sentences may be simple or
complex. Ask students, which sentence from the previous task is the simplest
one? (key: sentence 2) Why? (Because it's only one clause, i.e. one subject
with a verb and an object)

While checking, ask if anyone knows what a complement is and explain that
in verbs talking about ourselves (e.g. be, feel), instead of an object, there is a
complement that describes us. Ask if they can spot the complement here
(key: sorry, sentence 3). it’s unlikely most students will notice this, but
‘beautiful’ in sentence 4 is also a complement for ‘country’, while the whole
phrase serves as the object of the first clause.

You can also take this opportunity to explain that the subjects and objects
are not always one word, that some verbs don’t take an object or take
multiple objects and that some sentences have complements instead of
objects.

Key
Lower levels

1. Maria’s birthday party was so much fun!

2. The neighbourhood is very quiet, but I prefer it this way.

3. Who forgot to put the food in the fridge again?

4. I am reading a book about a shop that sells maps.

[Link] iii
 Higher levels

1. I’m participating in a dancing competition next week, so I need to practise.

2. Our company has decided to move to a new office closer to the train station.

3. I’m sorry, but the dentist is fully booked and cannot accept any new appointments.

4. He always talks about how beautiful his country is, so I really want to visit it.

(10–15 minutes)

4. Ask students to look at Part 2, Tips. In the same pairs/groups, ask them to
match the sentence halves to each other, then check together.

Key
1. c 2. a 3. d 4. b

(5 minutes)

5. Tell them you’re going to be reading out some sentences a maximum of two
times each – same as in the EnglishScore Writing Test. Each student should
write down what they hear. Once they’re done, ask them to swap papers with
a classmate and check each other’s answers. Elicit the sentences from
students and write them on the board to check together. Tip: There are quite
a few sentences below from each level. You don’t need to read out all of
them, you can select a few based on the level and time left.

A2 • Have we got any snacks at home?

• We bought a new sofa for our bedroom.
• You can book an appointment online.
B1 • This coffee shop sells the best sandwiches in town.
• I can’t believe the refrigerator has stopped working again!
• Does anyone know who this purse belongs to?
B2 • I’m not surprised at all that they fired him, to be honest.
• The architecture of the building is gorgeous, but it’s just so dirty!
• I’ve got a customer on the phone who's furious and wants a
manager.
C1 • The infrastructure of the area has been badly damaged by the
recent floods.
• We need a new banner design for our social media pages to attract
new clients.
• Please remember to sign out of your computer whenever you leave
your desk unattended!

(8–10 minutes)

Optional: Select a song at the appropriate level that your students may be familiar 15
Practice with. Print the lyrics to the song, but instead of having single words missing,
have entire phrases. Play the song a couple of times and ask students to
complete the lyrics with the missing phrases. In the same pairs/groups, ask
students to check with each other, then check together with the class.

[Link] iv
Wrap-up Correct any mistakes students made during the lesson, discuss any questions 5
they may have about the lesson/item studied and assign homework.

[Link] v
 a. Put the words below in the right order to
form sentences.

A B

1. fun! / Maria’s / so / party / was / birthday / much 1. dancing / next / I’m / a / so / participating / need /
week / to / I / competition / practise / in
………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..
………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..
………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..
2. very / prefer / the / quiet / but / neighbourhood / ………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..
I / is / way / this / it 2. decided / to / to / office / our / station / closer /
the / train / has / move / company / new / a / to
………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..
………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..
………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..
3. fridge / forgot / in / who / again? / put / the / the / ………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..
food /to 3. I’m / dentist / cannot / any / sorry / booked / but /
the / is / accept / appointments / new / and / fully
………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..
………………………………..………………………………..……………………………….. ………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..
………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..
4. reading / shop / about / am / a / book / I / sells / a
/ maps / books / that 4. always / how / country / so / is / really / visit / he /
beautiful / his / want / to / I / it / talks / about
………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..
………………………………..………………………………..……………………………….. ………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..
………………………………..………………………………..………………………………..

b. Write the sentences below and underline the verbs, put the subjects in a box and circle
the objects.

1. ……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….…..

2. ……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….…………………...

3. ……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….…..

4. ……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….……………….…..

[Link] 1
Match the two parts of the sentences below.

1. Focus on listening to the sentence a. …they’re easier to make on the

first because… phone, and autocorrect is disabled
during the test.
2. Be careful with spelling mistakes b. …correct word order and punctuation
and typos because… (commas and full stops) are just as
necessary.
3. Don’t listen to the audio a second c. …you won’t be able to type anything
time until… until you listen once.
4. Remember that while spelling d. …you have written the entire
correctly is important, … sentence down as you can only hear
it twice.

[Link] 2
My brother bought an orange cat,
but his wife hates its colour.

I have to wake up early tomorrow

because I need to clean under the
sofa.

Do you know if the company plans

to buy new shoes for all the
employees?

If I had a million pens, I would

probably start selling them to
make some dough.

The last time I tried a pumpkin pie,

it was at a petrol station, and it
tasted like potato mash.

[Link] 3