Level A1 Reading and Viewing

The student work samples on this page are also available to download:

A1RV_RetellingTheThreeLittlePigs_1.docx
A1RV_RetellingTheThreeLittlePigs_2.docx
A1RV_LabellingADiagramOfAFish.docx
A1RV_ConstructingSentencesWithModalVerbs1.docx
A1RV_ConstructingSentencesWithModalVerbs2.docx

A1 Reading and Viewing proficiency levels and Achievement Standard

The students' performance in these tasks suggest that they are working within the range of Level A1 in Reading and Viewing. The assessing teacher will need to consider a range of student samples in order to determine whether each student is at the beginning of A1, consolidating A1 or at the A1 standard in Reading and Viewing.

At beginning Level A1, students:                              

  • do not seem to recognise English print

and/or                              

  • show little interest in environmental print and books and have a very limited attention span during shared reading activities

and/or                              

  • may recognise their home language, if it has a written form, and may recognise that English print is different from their home language.

At consolidating Level A1, students:                              

  • can recognise and name some letters
  • show interest in print and recognise some environmental print including their name
  • show an interest in books and focus on illustrations
  • demonstrate reading-like behaviour such as holding a book, sitting and looking at a book, turning pages and looking at pictures
  • watch and listen as texts are read aloud to them but may not join in
  • rely on peer or teacher support to complete structured activities.

At Level A1 Standard achievement students:                              

  • read and engage with a wide range of short, simple, repetitive texts, including shared recounts and fictional and everyday texts. These texts may be in print or visual form.
  • read in context some familiar words, phrases, numbers and signs
  • complete simple, structured activities such as sequencing sentences and pictures
  • show early understanding that texts are written and structured for a variety of purposes
  • recognise some common letters and letter patterns
  • name some letters of the alphabet and know the sounds commonly related to some letters and letter groups
  • recognise some basic features of texts, including text directionality and page order, and understand the function of titles and images
  • hold and manipulate books appropriately
  • when listening to texts read aloud, they listen for key words and for repetition of words and phrases

  •  focus on images and other visual features that assist them to understand texts. 

Imaginative text - Retelling the Three Little Pigs (1)

Student information

The student is six years and nine months old. She comes from Afghanistan and has been in Australia for nine months. Her home language is Dari. The student did not attend school in Afghanistan prior to coming to Australia. She is currently in a Year 1 class in an English language centre where she has been attending for eight months.                                

Task

Students read the story of the Three Little Pigs as an introductory activity to a larger unit of work on Houses. Unfamiliar vocabulary was introduced using flash cards and realia of different building materials such as straw, sticks and bricks. Students explored different types of houses using images on an interactive whiteboard, including pictures of homes in the students' countries of origin.                               

The students were asked to retell the story after they had read it with the teacher. They were then asked to match words and phrases from the story to pictures.                              

In the assessment task the teacher wanted to know whether the students understood some metalanguage about the text, were aware of some sound/letter relationships, were able to participate in a shared reading, could understand the main ideas of a story and could demonstrate their understanding of some key written words and phrases in the story.                              

In the task the teacher was assessing how well the students:                              

  • identified some sound/letter relationships
  • understood a familiar story through a retelling
  • recognised and read familiar word and phrases from the story.  

In the transcript, the words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold. 

  •            
  •            

Transcript

Can you show me the name or the title of the story?                              

The name.                              

Yeah, good girl. Can you point to a word?                              

The.                               

The, a word.                              

This.                              

Can you, one word.                              

Alright, the, a.                              

Yeah, and what is, 'the', good. Can you point to another word?                              

Mm.                              

And what does that say?                              

Three.                              

Good. Can you point to a letter? Show me a letter.                                

Letter?                              

Mm.                              

This one.                              

And what, which one?                              

T H E.                              

Good. Is this a small 'T' or a capital 'T'?                              

Capital.                              

And is this a small 'T' or a capital 'T'?                              

Small T.                              

Yeah, very good. Can you point to the letter 'E'?                              

'E'.                              

'E', yeah.                              

There.                              

And what sound does it make?                              

E, e, e.                                

Good, and what about the letter 'I'?                              

I.                               

Yeah, show me an 'I'.                              

There.                              

Good, and what sound does it make?                              

I, i, i.                                

Good, and what about the letter 'S'? Can you point to the letter 'S'?                              

S, there.                              

Mm, and what sound does it make?                              

Sss.                                

1:10-1.39

Very good. Now Wahida we are going to read the story and, together. Would you like to do that?                              

Yes.                              

Very good. So let's read the title together.                              

[together] The Three Little Pigs.                              

Good girl.                              

[together] The Three Little Pigs. Once upon a time there were three little pigs. The first little pig built a house out of straw.  

Okay Wahida, now I'm going to ask you to tell me what happened in the story, and you can look at the pictures in the story. I have covered the words. Would you like to look at the pictures or do you think you can just remember? You can, we've read it lots of times now. Do you remember what happened in the story?                              

I know.                              

You know? Okay, off you go. What happened in the story of the Three Little Pigs?                              

This one made of the house straw.                              

Good.                              

And this one, the second little pig made of stick house.                              

Mm hm.                              

And the third little pig made of bricksly, bricks house.                              

Very good.                               

The wolf come and then he said, "Let me in, let me in."  He said, "Not in my hair and my chinny, chin, chin." And then he puff and he blow he house.                              

Very good.

2:41-5:28

One more activity. So there are some words here, okay? And there are some pictures over here. I'd like you please to read the word, read all the words first and then I'll tell you what to do. So what does this say?                              

House of bricks.                              

Good girl.                                

House, no…                              

Look at the next word. What does the next word say? Can you read…?                              

Three.                              

Does this say 'three'?                              

No.                              

This says 'three' though. Three…                              

Three Little Pigs.                              

Good. What does the first letter say?                              

'P'.                              

Yeah, 'P'. What sound does 'P' make?                              

P, p, p.                                

P. What sound does this letter make?                               

O.                              

'O', po…? And this last letter? What sound does that make?                              

T.                                

'T', good. Po…                              

Po…                              

Po…                              

Pot of soup.                              

Good. This one?                                

House of straw.                               

Try again.                              

Stick.                                

Sticks.                              

How…                              

Look at the first letter. What is the name of the first letter?                              

'W'.                              

'W'. What sound does it make?                              

W, w, w.                                

W, good. W, w…                              

Wolf.                              

Good, wolf, excellent. What about this one? This is a new word that we all learnt last week. Do you remember the sound, that C H together makes a sound 'ch', 'ch'…                                

Chimney.                              

Chimney, chimney good. And the last one?                                

House of straw.                              

Excellent, good. Now Wahida, I'd like you to read the words again, but this time I want you to draw a line matching the words with the picture, okay? And you can choose a crayon. You can use two different colours if you like or just one colour. What would you like?                              

                               

House of bricks.                              

Good. What would you like to use? What colour? Good.                                

Red.                              

So where is the house of bricks?                              

Brick.                              

Yeah, the house of bricks. Good.                              

This.                              

Yeah.                                

Ah, chimney.                              

Chimney, where's the chimney?                                

Ah…                              

All the way on the other side.                                

Chimney.                              

Good, and the last one.                              

Is house of straw.                              

Where's the house of straw? Well done. Excellent work Wahida.

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Understand and use simple metalanguage for books and reading (VCEALL044)
  • Recognise some letters of the alphabet (VCEALL049)
  • Identify some sounds in words (VCEALL050)
  • Participate in shared reading activities (VCEALA037)
  • Understand aspects of simple, familiar texts(VCEALC031)
  • Understand that texts are meaningful (VCEALA035)
  • Recognise some familiar words in context (VCEALL048)
  • Identify familiar words and simple sentences and match them to images (VCEALC032)
  • Recognise some common letters and letter patterns in words (VCEALL051)
  • Recognise capital letters, spaces and full stops (VCEALL052)

Possible next steps for this student's learning

  • Practising reading simple, familiar texts with fluency (VCEALC030)
  • Matching sentences to pictures (VCEALC032)
  • Re-constructing jumbled up sentences taken from the text (VCEALC031)
  • Using visuals to retell the story in her home language to family members, a Multicultural Education Aide or a peer who speaks the same language (VCEALA041)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A Year 1 student working within the range of Level A1 in any one language mode is not ready to transition to the English curriculum regardless of their proficiency in the other two language modes. This student will continue on Pathway A of the EAL curriculum in all language modes.                              

Imaginative text - Retelling the Three Little Pigs (2)

Student information

The student was born in Iraq and is seven years old. His first language is Arabic. He has been in Australia for ten and a half months and has been attending an English language school since he arrived. He did not attend school in Iraq. He is the youngest of four boys in his family. His father speaks fluent English and supports the student's learning of reading by listening to his reading at home.

Task

Students read the story of the Three Little Pigs as an introductory activity to a larger unit of work on Houses. Unfamiliar vocabulary was introduced using flash cards and realia of different building materials such as straw, sticks and bricks. Students explored different types of houses using images on an interactive whiteboard, including pictures of homes in the students' countries of origin.                        

The students were asked to retell the story after they had read it with the teacher. They were then asked to match words and phrases from the story to pictures.                              

In the assessment task the teacher wanted to know whether the students understood some metalanguage about the text, were aware of some sound/letter relationships, were able to participate in a shared reading, could understand the main ideas of a story and could demonstrate their understanding of some key written words and phrases in the story.                              

In the task the teacher was assessing how well the students:                              

  • identified some sound/letter relationships
  • understood a familiar story through a retelling
  • recognised and read familiar word and phrases from the story.  

In the transcript, the words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold.                        

  •            
  •            

Transcript

So Ahmed, we have read this story in the classroom many times. Can you show me the title? Where does the, where is the title on the book?                          

[Silence]                          

Can you show me the name of the book?                          

[whispers] The Three Little Pigs.                          

Very good. The Three Little Pigs. Can you point to a letter? Show me a letter.                          

Just one letter?                          

Just one letter, yeah. Good, and what is the name of this letter?                          

'T'.                          

'T', and what sound does it make?                          

T, t.                            

Good.

Now we are going to, I want you to tell me what happened in the story and you can use the book. This book has the words covered, so you can look at the pictures to help you tell the story, okay? So can you tell me what happened at the start of the story? Let's open to the first page. What happened in the story?                          

Once…                          

Can you tell me? Who are these?                          

Pigs.                          

Yeah, the three little pigs. And what did they do?                            

Build house.                          

Yeah, and what kind of house did this little pig build?                          

Straw.                            

Mm, and this one?                          

Sticks.                          

And this one?                          

Bricks.                          

Good. What happened after that?                          

Wolf is a coming.                          

Mm. And where did he go? First he went to the house of…?                          

Straw.                          

The straw, the first little pig had made. And what did he do? What did he say to the first little pig?                          

"I'm going to huff and puff and blow your house in."                          

And did he blow the house in? Good.

Now with your blue crayon can you draw a line matching the words to the picture? Can you read this, the words again?  What does this say?                          

House of mm bricks.                          

Excellent. Can you show me, where is the house of bricks? Good, so can you draw a line matching the words with the picture?                          

Match like this?                          

Yeah, just a straight line, like that. Yeah, so from the word, good. Very good, okay. What did this say again?                          

Three Little Pigs.                              

Good, and where are the three little pigs? Good, so draw a line. Good.                            

That one?                          

Yeah. Good, so draw a long line from here all the way to the other side. Good, next one.                            

House of sticks.                          

Very good, where is the house of sticks. Good.

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Distinguish English script from non-English script (VCEALA039)
  • Recognise some letters of the alphabet (VCEALL049)
  • Identify some sounds in words (VCEALL050)
  • Recall or repeat familiar or favourite parts of a text using memory or home language resources (VCEALA041)
  • Understand aspects of simple, familiar texts (VCEALC031)
  • Identify familiar words and simple sentences and match them to images (VCEALC032)
  • Rely on content words to understand the main idea in a text (VCEALL045)

Possible next steps for this student's learning

  • Practising reading familiar texts aloud (VCEALC030)
  • Recording and listening to his own reading of the story (VCEALL054)
  • Using the pictures in the book to retell the story in his home language to a parent, a Multicultural Education Aide or other same-language peers (VCEALA041)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A Year 2 student working within the range of Level A1 in any one language mode is not ready to transition to the English curriculum regardless of their proficiency in the other two language modes. This student will continue on the EAL curriculum in all language modes.

Related pages


Student work samples: Level A1 Reading and Viewing                          

Student work samples: Level A1 Writing                          

Student work samples: Level A2 Speaking and Listening 

Informative text – Labelling a diagram of a fish

Student information

The student was born in China and speaks Chinese at home. They came to Australia 9 months ago and had age-equivalent schooling in China. They are 6 years and 4 months old and in Year 1. They are currently in a new arrivals program.            

Task

The students have recently completed a unit of work about the beach, in which they learned about sea creatures and the marine environment. During the unit, students investigated the features of different animals and took part in an excursion to the beach. In this task, the student read an informative text about fish with support from the teacher. They were then asked to match labels to a diagram of a fish. In the assessment task the teacher wanted to know whether the student recognised and understood some key vocabulary, was aware of some sound/letter relationships and could demonstrate their understanding of some key written words in the text.            

The task was completed one-to-one in a familiar environment.              

The teacher was assessing the student’s ability to:            

  • identify some sound/letter relationships
  • read short, familiar texts
  • recognise familiar words and phrases
  • use content words to understand ideas 
  • follow the text with his finger while reading
  • identify familiar words and match them to images.

The words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold.

Transcript

00:05 – 04.03                   

Do you know anything about fish?                   

Fish have a head.                     

Fish have a head, they do. Anything else?                   

Mm, fins.                     

Fins? And what can you see in this picture? Well, what's this?                   

Eye.                     

It is the eye. And what about this?                   

Squeels.                     

That's the things on the fish's body and they're called scales.                   

Squeels.                     

Scales.                   

Scales.                     

Can you say after me? Scales.                   

Scales.                     

Good.                      

What is... What are fish?                     

Can you point to the words?                   

What are fish? Fish live in water. Some fish live in the sea. Some fish live in…                     

Try and sound it out.                   

Ri-                     

Rivers.                     

Ri-                   

Rivers.                     

Rivers, good boy. Beautiful reading.                   

Fish have gins.                     

Gills, good boy.                   

Gills.                     

Where are the fish's gills? There they are.                   

Some fish have                     

That doesn't say some, look at the first letter.                   

Most fish have sceeles.                     

Scales. I like the way you sounded that out. Scales.                   

Scales.                     

What did you learn about fish in this book?                   

Fish has sceeles.                     

Scales. Do all fish have scales?                   

Most.                     

Most fish have scales. What else did you learn?                   

Fish have skin.                     

Skin? Ooh some fish have skin. Which fish didn't have scales?                   

Um, the shark.                     

The shark didn't have scales. Do you remember, where do fish live?                   

Sea or...                     

R- r-                   

River.                     

River, well done. Good boy, you remembered that word. Now, can you put the labels around the picture? Which one would you like to do first? What's that?                   

Eye.                     

The eye.                   

Here.                     

Pardon? The eye goes there, yes. Which one would you like to do next?                   

Fin.                     

Fin. Where can you see a fin? Yes.                   

Gill.                     

Gills. Where are the gills? Good boy.                   

Fin.                     

Now what does this word say?                   

Fin.                     

And what does this word say?                   

Fins.                     

Why does this have an s? Why do words usually have an s at the end?                   

Two fin.                     

When there are two fins. What does this word say?                   

Scale.                     

Scales. And?                   

Tail.                     

And tail. Great work Ethan.                   

                     

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Identify repetitive words or phrases in known texts (VCEALL047)
  • Understand aspects of simple, familiar texts (recognising illustrations) (VCEALC031)
  • Adopt the teacher’s intonation patterns when reading familiar texts (imitating pronunciation) (VCEALL054)
  • Read short, familiar texts (VCEALC030) 
  • Understand the direction of English text (VCEALA034)
  • Follow text with finger while reading (VCEALL053) 
  • Recognise some familiar words in context (VCEALL048)
  • Identify some sounds in words (VCEALL050)
  • Rely on content words to understand the main idea in a text (VCEALL045) 
  • Understand aspects of simple, familiar texts (showing comprehension through appropriate activities) (VCEALC031)
  • Identify familiar words and simple sentences and match them to images (VCEALC032)
  • Recognise familiar words and phrases (VCEALL046)

Possible next steps for this student’s learning

  • Continue to practise reading a range of short, familiar texts (VCEALC030)
  • Identify simple sentences and match them to images (VCEALC032)
  • Talk about the purpose of different text types (VCEALA035)
  • Recognise and explore a range of different types of texts (VCEALL042)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A Year 1 student working within the range of Level A1 in any one language mode is not ready to transition to the English curriculum regardless of their proficiency in the other two language modes. This student will continue on Pathway A of the EAL curriculum in all language modes.

Persuasive text – Constructing sentences with modal verbs (1)

Student information

This student is 7 years and 2 months old and is in Year 2. They came to Australia from Saudi Arabia 3 years and 4 months ago as a pre-schooler. When they started school the following year, they attended a new arrivals program for 15 months (including remote learning during COVID lockdowns) before enrolling in a mainstream class. They speak Arabic at home.

Task

Students have been studying Australian animals, habitats and environment in their class Inquiry unit. In EAL, they have been using modal verbs to discuss the different habitat features that make a habitat important for each animal. In this task, students used cards to construct compound sentences using modal verbs. The sentence parts were organised into groups to support sentence construction. The students completed the task with a familiar teacher.

The words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold.


Transcript

00:05 – 06:02         

Okay, so we've got four animals. Let's make some sentences about them now.         

Oh.          

No, right over to the side. 'The platypus.'         

Because... It... Oh. It can.          

What's the matter?         

It can eat fish.          

Mhmm.         

It can eat fish and swim. Swim. Swim.          

It's one of the green… words. It's a verb.         

Swim.          

You're scanning those well.         

Swim. Swim.          

Good reading. Swim. Okay. And what goes on the end of, ah, and a full stop. Well done.         

The platypus must live in the water because it can eat fish and swim.          

The platypus must live in the water because it can eat fish and swim, or, what's the other conjunction? The other joining word we could put there.         

Um, um... 'Look?'          

Instead of 'because,' what else could we use?         

Eh, eh, 'choose?'          

'So?'          

Does that sound better? The platypus must live in the water so it can eat fish and swim.         

Yeah, I like it.          

Yeah, I think that sounds... mm, that sounds better. Okay.         

And full stop.          

And a full stop. What do you want to say Wafa?         

Uh, it doesn't make sense.          

Can you read what's there?         

The Tasmanian devil must live on the ground because because it can eat meat.          

It's missing something, isn't it? Now should it be because it can or because it...         

Has to?          

Because it has to. Yeah, well...         

Umm. Must live.          

So instead of so it can…         

 Because.         

Yeah, because. And what gets, what has to come after 'because?'         

It can          

No, so it can because… because… it has to or because it needs to. They mean the same thing, don't they? It has to. It needs to. They mean the same thing. They must...         

Oh, must live in a tree because it can...          

Not because it can. So it can. Because it has to or because it needs to.         

Because needs to. So we need this.          

No, that goes with so. So it can… because it needs to.         

Eat gum leaves.          

Great. Is there anything else it needs to do in the tree?         

And sleep on the tree, but we don't.          

And…          

What are you looking for? Can you help her, Martin? And sleep, thanks.         

You can do one more.          

Slip.          

You can do one more.         

Oh, you have one more and.          

And climb.          

Oh, do you think that makes a good sentence Wafa? Great. And you've got to put one more card in. Well done. A full stop. Okay, good sentence. Can you read that to me?         

The koala must... The koala must live in a tree because it needs to... ... needs to eat gum leaves and slip. It said slip.          

It doesn't say slip, so...         

Sleep and climb.          

           

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Read short, familiar texts aloud, such as own writing or a text used in class, with prompts from the teacher (VCEALC030)
  • Understand aspects of simple, familiar texts showing comprehension through appropriate activities (VCEALC031)
  • Identify familiar words and simple sentences (VCEALC032)
  • Participate in shared reading activities (VCEALA037)
  • Recognise and explore different types of texts (VCEALL042)
  • Recognise capital letters, spaces and full stops (VCEALL052)
  • Understand the direction of English text (VCEALA034)
  • Understand that texts are meaningful - understanding that print texts contain a consistent message (VCEALA035)
  • Recognise common or learnt words in class texts (VCEALL045)
  • Recognise familiar words and phrases (VCEALL046)
  • Recognise some familiar words in context (VCEALL048)
  • Identify some sounds in words - attempting to pronounce new words by using the most common sound for each letter and sounds for familiar letter groups (VCEALL050)

Possible next steps for this student’s learning

  • Read texts a number of times to build accuracy and fluency (VCEALC030)
  • Practise strategies for identifying familiar words and reading simple sentences (VCEALC032)
  • Read a range of texts and, with support, explore the basic features of different text types (VCEALL043)
  • Continue to practise common letters and letter patterns, and with teacher support, use them to decode unfamiliar words (VCEALL051)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A student who has achieved the A1 standard will continue on Pathway A to Level A2 of the EAL curriculum.

At the end of Year 2, all students who are working within the A1 range or who have achieved the A1 standard will transition to Pathway B in Year 3.

Persuasive text – Constructing sentences with modal verbs (2)

Student information

This student is 7 years and 9 months old and is in Year 2. They were born in Colombia and did not attend school until they came to Australia 6 months ago. Their home language is Spanish but they also use English at home.

Task

Students had been studying Australian animals, habitats and environment in their class Inquiry unit. In EAL, they had been using modal verbs to discuss the different habitat features that make a habitat important for each animal. In this task, students used cards to construct compound sentences using modal verbs. The sentence parts were organised into groups to support sentence construction. The students completed the task with a familiar teacher.

The words spoken by the student/s being assessed are in bold.

Transcript

00:02 – 05:10     

Martin, can you choose an animal?     

A Tasmanian devil.     

Okay. Where are you going to put the Tasmanian devil. Where should that go?     

It should, in the ground.     

In the ground?     

I think so, here.     

In the ground or on the ground?     

On, in the ground, on the ground. On the ground.     

On the ground. Okay. So should it be there or must it be on the ground?     

It must.     

Why must the Tasmanian devil be?     

Because he can found his animals like the kangaroo because the kangaroo needs to walk. He can eat the kangaroo.     

So tell me again, the Tasmanian devil must go on the ground. Can you say that?     

Tasmanian devil must live on the ground.     

Because?     

Because he can found his food.     

He can find food there.     

And he can walk.     

And he can walk around too.     

Like the 'chidna.     

Which one are you going to make? About the Tasmanian devil? Okay.     

Tasmanian devil... must live.     

Must live? Or should live? Which one would you like?     

Must live.     

Okay.     

On the ground.     

On the ground.     

On the ground.     

Because, I think this is because.     

Because, it depends what comes next. Because,     

He need, he need to eat meat?     

Because it needs to eat meat.     

Eat meat.     

And walk. Where's walk?     

There's and.     

Walk. Where is walk?     

I can't see walk. What else can he do other than walk?     

Eh     

Why else must he live on the ground?     

Dig?     

Dig? Yeah. Okay.     

And full of stop.     

And a full stop.     

What do you want to say, Wafa?     

It doesn't make sense.     

It's missing something, isn't it? So, goes with, so it can, because,     

So...     

So it can...     

So it can...     

Yeah. So it can.     

And so, it can eat meat and dig.     

Okay, why don't you read that now? Martin?     

The Tasmanian devil must live on the ground so can eat meat and dig.     

So can eat meat and dig?     

Mm. It doesn't make sense     

Why, what's missing Wafa?     

So, you covered this over Martin.     

Okay. The Tasmanian devil must live on the ground so can, so can...     

So     

It, can..     

so it can     

and eat meat.     

That needs to move over.     

and dig.     

Okay Great. And where should the full stop go?     

Here.     

Okay, so Martin, what are you going to make the sentence about?     

The snake must live on the ground because he can.      

Now must he live on the ground? Is there another place he can live?     

Tree.     

In the tree.     

Yeah.     

So...     

On the tree.     

So, should we say must live in the tree or should live in the tree?     

Should.     

Yeah. If there's a choice, should.     

Yeah.     

Should.     

Okay.     

Thank you. Should the snake, should live, should live in the ground. Yeah, here on the ground. Yeah but I have, the snake should on the ground.     

Oh, you're missing a word, aren't you? Yeah. Oh, that's a long sentence. Gee, there's a lot of reasons why the snake should live on the ground.     

Okay.     

Great. Can you read that now Martin?     

The snake should live on the ground so it can lie and eat meat and hide from predators.     


This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Recall or repeat familiar or favourite parts of a text using memory or home language resources - stating facts from an information text (VCEALA041)
  • Understand aspects of simple, familiar texts (VCEALC031) 
  • Identify familiar words and simple sentences and match them to images (VCEALC032)
  • Understand the direction of English text (VCEALA034)
  • Rely on content words to understand the main idea in a text (VCEALL045)
  • Distinguish English script from non-English script - recognising words written in English (VCEALA039) 
  • Use words from classroom vocabulary charts when speaking or writing (VCEALA040)
  • Recognise familiar words and phrases - locating and pointing to familiar words or phrases (VCEALL046)
  • Recognise capital letters, spaces and full stops (VCEALL052)
  • Read short, familiar texts - reading some familiar words and short phrases in context (VCEALC030)
  • Recognise and explore different types of texts - engaging with print texts (VCEALL042)
  • Recognise some familiar words (mainly content words) in a supported context, such as shared reading (VCEALL048)
  • Participate in shared reading activities (VCEALA037)
  • Understand that texts are meaningful - understanding that print texts contain a consistent message (VCEALA035)

Possible next steps for this student’s learning

  • Continue to read a range of short texts on familiar topics (VCEALC030) and show comprehension through a variety of activities (VCEALC031)
  • Reread sentences when they don’t make sense (VCEALA035)
  • Explore a variety of text types and talk about their purpose (VCEALL042) and features (VCEALL043)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A student who has achieved the A1 standard will continue on Pathway A to Level A2 of the EAL curriculum.

At the end of Year 2, all students who are working within the A1 range or who have achieved the A1 standard will transition to Pathway B in Year 3. 

Related pages

Student work samples: Level A1 Speaking and Listening
Student work samples: Level A1 Writing
Student work samples: Level A2 Reading and Viewing