4.3 Part 6 Open Cloze & Guided Text Completion

Part 6 of the A2 Flyers Reading and Writing paper is an open cloze. It has 5 questions and 5 marks. Children read a short text — the Handbook’s examples are a page from a diary or an email / letter — and complete the gaps with their own words. No answer options are given. The 2026 format page calls this reading and understanding a short text. The Handbook is more precise: children write one word in each of the five gaps, and both lexis and grammar are tested.

This is a jump from Part 4. In Part 4 the three options sit on the page. In Part 6 the child must produce the word. The word must still be a Flyers-level word, spelled correctly, and it must fit the whole message, not only the hole.

Correct spelling is still required. A child who thinks because and writes becos does not get the mark. A child who writes two words (a lot, next to, because of) has not followed “one word”. Choose a single word that does the same job, or find the one-word collocation the sentence actually wants.

Collocations the Handbook names

The Handbook tells teachers to give plenty of practice in common collocations such as ask a question and do some homework. Those two examples are not decoration. They are the Part 6 skill.

English does not always use the verb a child expects from a first-language translation:

A gap before a question is very often ask (or asked, if the diary is in the past). A gap before some homework is very often do / did / doing, not make. Drill the pair until the wrong verb feels uncomfortable.

Other high-frequency one-word jobs at Flyers:

• infinitive to: We’ve been to see the castle; I am going to make a card
• comparative than: The photos made the hill look smaller than it is
• prepositions: for, with, at, in, on, from, about
• auxiliaries and forms of be/have: am, is, are, was, were, has, have, had
• pronouns: it, them, her, his, our
• linkers: because, so, but, when, if, and

The gap is one word from this closed world, not a clever long phrase.

Read the whole text first

Most learners find it helpful to read the whole text to get a sense of what it is about before writing anything in the gaps. A diary about a holiday, an email thanking Grandma, a letter about a school play — the topic tells you which collocations are likely.

As with all gap-fill tasks, the word must fit the surrounding text both lexically and grammatically. Children must not only consider the text immediately before and/or after the gap. Their choice may depend on something said further back or further ahead in the text.

Worked distant-clue patterns:

• The opening line establishes that the writer is on holiday. A later gap in a We are _____ a great time frame is having, because the holiday frame is already on the page.
• A gap sits after a school subject (in our Geography _____). If a nearby line talks about what the teacher showed or explained, the gap is a lesson word such as lessons or class, not a random school noun.
• “I am very excited _____ I have always wanted to ride one.” The reason follows the gap, so because (or as) fits; so would need the reason first.
• A warning further down the page (she says they are usually not very friendly) can lock a gap higher up about tomorrow’s plan, because it names which animal the plan is about.

If you fill gap 1 before you have read line 5, you may write a locally pretty word that the rest of the diary contradicts.

Self-edit by re-reading

The Handbook asks teachers to encourage candidates to self-edit, making sure they re-read the whole text through to check their answers. This is not optional polish. It is the last official step of the task.

On the second read, ask four questions of each word:

1. Is it one word?
2. Is the spelling the Flyers spelling?
3. Does the grammar of this sentence still work (tense, singular/plural, preposition)?
4. Does the whole diary or email still make sense as one message?

If gap 2 is asked (“Our teacher _____ us lots of questions”) and gap 3 is did (“I _____ my homework the night before”), the two past forms support each other. If gap 2 is asks and the diary is about yesterday, the second read should catch it.

Worked diary (original teaching item)

The diary below is a classroom model, not a copied sample paper. Read it whole before you decide on any gap.

Tuesday

Yesterday I (1) _____ a great day at school. We had a history lesson about castles. Our teacher (2) _____ us lots of questions, and I could answer them because I (3) _____ my homework the night before. After school I went to the park (4) _____ my cousin. It was colder (5) _____ last week, so we wore our jackets.

Teaching answers:

1. had — collocation have a great day, in the past because of Yesterday. Made is the first-language trap.
2. asked — collocation ask a question, past to match yesterday. The clue lots of questions sits after the gap.
3. did — collocation do homework, past. Made is wrong English here even though it is a Flyers verb.
4. with — went to the park with a person. To would need a verb (to play), not a person after park.
5. than — comparative colder than. Then is the lookalike trap; then would sequence time, not compare.

Gap 2 is a distant-clue item: the noun questions arrives after the line. A child who only reads “Our teacher _____ us” may write told or gave. Both are possible English until lots of questions appears. Asked is the collocation the Handbook wants children to have ready.

Worked email (original teaching item)

Hi Grandma,

Thank you (1) _____ my birthday present. I have (2) _____ used the new paints. They are better (3) _____ my old ones. Tomorrow I am going (4) _____ make a card for Mum. I hope you can visit us (5) _____ the weekend.

Teaching answers:

1. for — Thank you for a present. About and of are common misses.
2. just / already — present perfect have _____ used. The time of the email is now; the using is recent. Choose one word; do not write just already.
3. than — better than. Same than/then trap as the diary.
4. to — going to make. The future plan is in the next words; the gap is the infinitive marker.
5. at — at the weekend (British). In the weekend is not the usual Flyers phrase; on the weekend is American and may also be accepted as a standard variety, but at is the form many Flyers texts print. Teach the collocation your classroom uses, and accept that Young Learners marks either standard variety when both are correct English. Do not write two words (at the).

If two one-word answers are both grammatical and both fit the message (just / already in gap 2), classroom keys should list both. In the exam, either acceptable word scores. The child still writes one of them, not both.

What “one word” means in practice

• Write because, not because of (two words).
• Write than, not then that.
• Write asked, not asked us if us is already printed.
• Write to, not in order to.
• Do not leave a gap empty in the hope that four other marks will be enough. Five empty lines are five lost marks, and Part 6 is only five items.

Contractions appear in Flyers texts (we’ve, I’m, don’t). The instruction is still one word on the answer line. If the gap needs not, write not. If the gap needs is, write is. Do not squeeze a whole clause into the line.

Time inside the 40 minutes

Part 6 is 5 marks of 48. After Parts 4 and 5, a practical classroom split is about 4–5 minutes: one full read, five words, one re-read. Part 7 still needs time for three pictures and a short story. A child who sits in Part 6 inventing long phrases will steal minutes from the only 5-mark writing task on the paper.

If a gap is stuck, write a best one-word try from the collocation list, then move on. Come back on the self-edit pass. A blank line cannot score; a reasonable Flyers word might.

Traps that lose Part 6 marks

• Filling gaps in order without reading the last sentence.
• Using make with homework or question.
• Writing two words because the meaning feels “more complete”.
• Mixing than and then, to and for, because and so.
• Copying a word from Part 4 options that are not on this page.
• Skipping the re-read.
• Spending ten minutes here and leaving Part 7 unattempted.

Lock the rule: one word, no list, read the whole message, collocation plus grammar, then self-edit. Part 7 is the only task that asks for connected sentences instead of a single word.