Four words for careful reading
At A2, reading questions start to ask how you know, not only what happened. These four words help your child answer. If your child knows similar words from school science, only the English is new.
- claim – an idea someone says is true
- observable detail – something you can see, hear or measure
- changed assumption – an early belief that changes after new evidence
- uncertainty – something the evidence does not yet prove
True, false or not in the text?
A common task gives a statement and asks “True or false?” The skill is finding the exact line, not remembering the general idea. Take a short report: at a neighbourhood race, a participant with a walking frame needs more room to turn, so the organizers add a separate, equally long lane with the same timing rule for everyone.
“The organizers changed the timing rule.” is false: the report says the rule stayed the same. “Both lanes had the same length.” is true, although the report says “equally long”: match meaning, not words. If someone claims more people came the next year, nothing in the report proves it, so the answer is “The text doesn’t say.”
- “It’s true. The text says…”
- “It’s false. The text says…”
- “The text doesn’t say.”
Fair does not always mean identical
List together what changed in the race (the lane) and what stayed the same (the distance, the timing rule). Then ask: “Was the race easier after the change? How do you know?” A strong answer uses evidence: “No. The new lane was equally long, and the timing rule didn’t change.” Disagreeing is fine, as long as it points to a line.
Stories: the turning point and a changed idea
A story has a problem, a decision, a turning point and an ending. In one short story, a painter called Leila covers a portrait before an exhibition, and her friend Tomas assumes she dislikes it. When a storm damages the roof, they move the paintings and the cloth slips: the face looks calm on one side and worried on the other. Leila explains that it shows how confidence can hide doubt.
That moment is the turning point, because Tomas’s idea changes: “At first, Tomas thought Leila disliked the portrait, but then he learned it showed mixed feelings.”
Comparing two texts: how each one earns trust
The report earns trust with facts we can check: equal lanes and an unchanged timing rule. The story earns trust through a choice: Tomas did not show the portrait without permission. In both, an early idea changes. Ask: “Which text do you trust more, and why?” A good answer names a detail from each, with frames such as “Both texts…” and “In the report…, but in the story…”.
Writing what happens next, for a real reader
First, your child decides who the reader is, as in this exchange: a text for a teacher needs full sentences and evidence. Then plan three details, write and revise one thing.
The task is an original continuation that keeps the characters as they are, stays in the past simple and adds one new event: “At the exhibition, Leila stood beside her portrait and pointed to her note. ‘Sometimes I feel brave and nervous at the same time,’ she told a visitor.” A continuation where Tomas sells the painting would break the trust the story built.
Nia Who will read your text?
Leo My teacher will read it, and we will talk about it.
A home game: evidence detective
Take a short English text, such as a children’s news article, and write three statements: one true, one false, one the text does not answer. Your child labels each and reads aloud the line that proves it. Then swap roles and make one deliberate mistake to catch. Once a week, stop a story at its turning point and ask for three sentences of what comes next.
Common mistakes and quick fixes
Repeat the sentence correctly and carry on.
- Answering from memory: ask “Where does it say that?”
- “The text say…”: use says: “The text says…”
- “many evidences”: evidence has no plural: “a lot of evidence”, “one piece of evidence”.
- “He didn’t showed it.”: after didn’t, use the base form: “He didn’t show it.”
- “without ask”: use -ing after without: “without asking”.
What comes next
Next, your child can bring the same habits to their own writing, such as a festival letter with clear facts and since, for and before.