Cambridge Movers: The A1 Level Guide

Cambridge Movers is a significant jump from Starters. If Starters tests whether a child knows individual words, Movers tests whether they can use those words in sentences, conversations, and short texts.

The good news: children who have completed Starters are already 60% of the way there. Movers uses the same 150 Starters words plus approximately 150 new words -- and the same test format, just longer and more complex.

What's New at Movers Level

New Topics (on top of all Starters topics)

Sports & Leisure: football, tennis, swimming, cycling, dancing, skateboarding, painting
Health: doctor, hospital, medicine, ill, better, toothache, headache, thermometer
Transport: bus, train, plane, boat, taxi, bicycle, helicopter, motorbike
Time: days of the week, months, o'clock, half past, quarter to, quarter past
Weather: sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy, snowy, foggy, temperature
Materials: plastic, metal, wood, glass, paper, cotton, wool
Directions: left, right, straight on, next to, between, opposite, behind
Jobs: teacher, doctor, farmer, pilot, cook, firefighter, shopkeeper, dentist
School subjects: maths, science, art, music, PE, English, history, geography
Numbers: 21-100 (and ordinals: 1st through 20th)

What the Exam Looks Like Now

Listening (25 min, 5 parts):

Match names to people in a picture (harder than Starters)

Write missing words from a conversation (dates, numbers, names)

Choose the correct picture A, B, or C from short conversations

Identify which of two people said something

Colour and write a word in a picture

Reading & Writing (30 min, 6 parts):

Match definitions to words (tests vocabulary breadth)

Cloze text -- choose A, B, or C for each gap

Conversation -- what does the second speaker say?

True/False with a longer text

Complete sentences

Write 1-2 sentences about a picture

Speaking (6 min, 4 parts):

Spot 4 differences between two pictures

Ask AND answer questions about a picture

Odd One Out -- which item doesn't belong and why?

Personal questions

The 3 Skills That Separate Good Movers Students

Skill 1: Spot the Difference (Speaking Part 1)

This is the task children find hardest at Movers. You have two pictures that are almost identical, but 4 details are different. You must describe each difference in a sentence.

The language pattern to drill: > "In picture A, the [object] is [colour/size/position]. In picture B, the [object] is [different colour/size/position]."

Example: > "In picture A, the girl is wearing a red hat. In picture B, the girl is wearing a blue hat." > "In picture A, there are three birds. In picture B, there are two birds." > "In picture A, the boy is playing football. In picture B, the boy is reading."

How to practise at home: Take any two pictures from a book or magazine. Look for 3-4 differences. Describe each one using the "In picture A... In picture B..." structure. Start with obvious, big differences and work up to small colour changes.

Skill 2: The Odd One Out (Speaking Part 3)

Cambridge gives 4 pictures of objects. Three belong together; one doesn't. The child must say which one is different AND explain why.

Important: There is usually more than one correct answer. Cambridge tests reasoning, not just vocabulary.

Example sets and possible answers:

Set: cat, dog, fish, horse

"The fish is different because it lives in water and the others live on land."
"The fish is different because you can't walk a fish."

Set: football, tennis, swimming, book

"A book is different because it's not a sport."
"Swimming is different because you don't need a ball."

Set: train, bus, car, boat

"A boat is different because it travels on water."

Set: Monday, Tuesday, Sunday, April

"April is different because it's a month, and the others are days of the week."

The sentence structure to practise: > "I think [item] is different because [reason]." > "[Item] doesn't belong because [reason]."

Skill 3: Writing Sentences About a Picture

Movers Part 6 asks children to write 1-2 sentences about a picture. This is the first writing production task in Cambridge YLE.

Useful sentence starters:

"I can see a/an..."
"There is a... in the picture."
"There are [number]... in the picture."
"The [person] is [verb+ing]."
"The [object] is [colour/position]."

A strong Movers answer uses:

A noun phrase (what it is)
A verb phrase (what it's doing or where it is)
A descriptor (colour, number, size)

Weak: "A dog." Better: "There is a dog." Strong: "There is a big brown dog running in the park."

4 Practice Exercises

Exercise 1 -- Vocabulary Match (Movers Reading Part 1 style)

Match each definition to the correct word.

Words: dentist, pilot, thermometer, helicopter, foggy, stadium

A place where people play football or watch sport: ___

A person who fixes your teeth: ___

A tool that measures how hot or cold you are: ___

A person who flies an aeroplane: ___

A flying machine with a large spinning blade on top: ___

Weather when you can't see far because of thick grey air: ___

Answers: 1. stadium 2. dentist 3. thermometer 4. pilot 5. helicopter 6. foggy

Exercise 2 -- Choose A, B, or C (Movers Reading Part 2 style)

Choose the best word (A, B, or C) to complete each sentence.

We went to the hospital because my brother was ___.

A) hungry B) ill C) tired

My dad goes to work by ___ -- he drives to the station every morning.

A) plane B) boat C) car

On ___ we have PE and we play football outside.

A) Friday B) metre C) always

The weather today is very ___. I can't see the mountains at all.

A) foggy B) sunny C) happy

I can't find my book. It's not ___ the table or under the chair.

A) next B) on C) in front

My grandfather is a ___. He grows vegetables and has cows and chickens.

A) pilot B) farmer C) dentist

Answers: 1. B 2. C 3. A 4. A 5. B 6. B