5.2 Speaking Part 2: Information Exchange

5.2 Speaking Part 2: Information Exchange

Quick Answer: In Part 2 the examiner asks the child questions about a person, place or object, and the child answers from a set of information cues. The child then asks the examiner questions from a different set of cues. The task tests responding to and forming questions, so a child who only answers has done half of it.

Where Part 2 sits in the paper

A2 Flyers Speaking lasts 7–9 minutes, has four parts, and is marked by one examiner for a maximum of five shields. An usher — often a teacher the child knows, who speaks the child's language — explains the format in the child's first language before taking them in. The standard format is always one candidate and one examiner, and children bring nothing into the room. Pictures and questions stay inside the Pre A1 Starters, A1 Movers and A2 Flyers word and structure lists, and the four parts always follow the same order, so a well-prepared child should meet no surprises.

Part 1 asked the child to react to statements. Part 2 raises the demand: the child must produce questions, which is the only place in the whole Flyers exam where that happens under live conditions. It is also the part that most often goes half-finished, because a child who has answered fluently assumes the turn is over. Practise the handover out loud — And now you ask me — until the second half of the task feels automatic.

The examiner asks the candidate questions about a person, place or object, based on a set of question cues. The candidate responds using a set of information cues. The candidate then asks the examiner questions based on a different set of question cues.

The official sample task uses two cards about two people's favourite restaurants. Both cards carry the same five headings — name, what the person likes eating, where it is, what time it opens, and whether it is cheap or expensive. On the candidate's copy, one card is filled in and the other shows the same headings with question marks. The examiner holds the mirror image, so between them the pair covers both restaurants.

The order is fixed: the examiner asks first about the card the child has information for, and the child answers from those cues. The child then asks the examiner about the question-mark card. Do not memorise which name is on which card — in a live version the names, and the topic, will be different. Memorise the mechanic: you answer from the facts you hold, then you ask from the question marks.

A teaching card built the same way (original, not a copied sample paper):

Helen's favourite club — Name: Star Chess Club; Meets: Thursday; Where: the sports centre; Time / start: 5 o'clock; Cheap / expensive: cheap.

Michael's favourite club — same five headings, all question marks.

The two cards can be any person, place or object from the wordlists — a teacher, a club, a museum, a pet. The method does not change: facts first, questions second.

Three question shapes the child must produce

1. Question-word questions using Who, What, When, Where, How old, How many, and similar Flyers question words — for example What's the name of Michael's club?
2. Yes/No questions, for example Has the club got a website?
3. Alternative questions with two options, for example Is it cheap or expensive?

Question intonation matters here. Pronunciation at Flyers includes intonation at word and longer utterance levels, and the Handbook glossary says some A2 Flyers tasks require candidates to ask questions, which is why question intonation appears in the Band 3 and Band 5 pronunciation descriptors. A child who only answers in Part 2 never shows that feature.

Forming questions from cue words

Cue headings are not questions. Time / open is not something the child reads aloud. The child must turn it into English:

• Name → What's the name of Michael's club?
• Meets → When does it meet? / What day does it meet?
• Where → Where is it?
• Time / start → What time does it start?
• Cheap / expensive → Is it cheap or expensive?

Yes/No from a fact heading is also common: Has it got a garden? when the cue is a Yes/No idea rather than a Wh- idea. Practise all three shapes in the same activity, not in separate weeks. A child who can only ask What questions has not finished Part 2 preparation.

Answers should use the fact on the card, in a short sentence or phrase: Star Chess Club. / It's called Star Chess Club. / It meets on Thursday. / At the sports centre. / It starts at 5 o'clock. / It's cheap. One-word answers can be acceptable, but phrase-or-sentence answers give more Vocabulary and Grammar evidence (extent). Do not invent facts that are not on the card. If the card says Thursday, do not add and Friday because it sounds friendlier.

Part 2 traps

• Reading the cue words as a statement (Name Star Chess Club) instead of answering a question.
• Forgetting to ask after answering. Half the task is forming questions.
• Asking only What questions and never Yes/No or alternative questions.
• Inventing facts that are not on the card.
• Using rising question intonation on answers and falling intonation on questions.
• Looking at the examiner's card. The candidate works from the candidate's cues.

Practice that transfers

Pair the class off: one child holds a completed card, the other holds the same headings with question marks, then they swap so both halves are rehearsed. Keep social formulae in every run-through — Hello, Thank you, Sorry, I don't understand, Goodbye — so they are automatic when the usher opens the door. Parts 3 and 4 use the same examiner and the same 7–9 minute clock; they are the next two sections.