Pre-A1 Starters Listening Part 2 — Write Names and Numbers
In Starters Listening Part 2, a child and an adult talk, and your child writes five short answers. Each answer is a name or a number, and names are spelt out letter by letter in the recording.
How Listening Part 2 works
Your child looks at five short prompts, each with a space waiting for a name or a number.
A conversation between a child and an adult plays, and the answers come up naturally in the talk.
When the answer is a name, the speaker spells it out letter by letter, and your child writes down the letters they hear.
When the answer is a number, your child writes the number — digits are accepted.
The recording plays twice, so there is a second chance to catch or check every answer.
Tips for writing names and numbers
Drill the alphabet aloud — names are dictated letter by letter, so a child who knows English letter names gets these marks reliably.
Practise writing numbers 1–20 from dictation, and let your child write digits — quicker and safer than spelling out 'fourteen'.
Play spelling dictation at home: say a short name one letter at a time and have your child write exactly what they hear.
Answers are a single name or number — if your child tends to write more, practise pulling out just the key word.
Games that train Part 2
- Listen & Choose
Trains catching one exact word from audio — the same careful-listening habit Part 2 needs for names and numbers.
- Spelling Challenge
Builds letter-by-letter spelling of Starters words, so writing a name that is spelt aloud in the recording feels routine.
Frequently asked questions
Does spelling matter in Listening Part 2?
Yes, but the exam helps. When the answer is a name, the speaker spells it out letter by letter, so your child only has to write the letters they hear. Numbers can be written as digits. Practising the English alphabet aloud is the single best preparation for this part.
What kind of answers come up in Part 2?
Every answer is either a name or a number — nothing else. There are five questions, and your child fills in short answers while listening to a conversation between a child and an adult. Typical answers include a first name spelt aloud, an age, a house number or a quantity.
How long is the whole Starters Listening paper?
The Starters Listening paper lasts about 20 minutes and contains four parts with 20 questions in total — five in each part. Every recording is played twice, and there is no pass or fail: children earn up to five shields for Listening on their Cambridge certificate.
How can we practise names and numbers at home?
Spell short English names aloud — one letter at a time — and have your child write what they hear. Then dictate numbers between 1 and 20. Five minutes a day builds the exact skill Part 2 rewards, and our spelling and listening games turn the same drill into play.
Last updated: 2026-07-02
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