A2 Waystage (Elementary)
At the A2 level on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) students are beginning to be able to function in social situations. They are able to use simple everyday polite forms of greeting and address; greet people, ask how they are and react to news; handle very short social exchanges; ask and answer questions about what they do at work and in their free time; make and respond to invitations; discuss what to do, where to go and make arrangements to meet; make and accept offers. They can also function ‘out and about’. They can make simple transactions in shops, post offices or banks; get simple information about travel; use public transport, ask for basic information, ask and give directions, and buy tickets.
Students at this level can understand sentences and frequently-used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). They can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. They can describe in simple terms aspects of their background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.
Here are 12 grammar points you might find yourself teaching at this level.
This list of grammar points is a sample for this level and by no means a complete list.
1. Question Forms
2. Prepositions
3. Past simple or Present Perfect?
4. Comparatives and Superlatives
5. Past Simple or Past Continuous?
6. Countable & Uncountable Nouns
7. Future Tenses
8. Present Simple & Present Continuous
9. Present Perfect
10. Adjective Order
11. Modal Verbs
12. Zero & First Conditionals
Choose from the drop-down menus the grammar point which each example illustrates:
We have chosen one of these grammar points to focus on: past simple or present perfect?
Presentation
Past Simple
We use this tense for things that happened at a definite time in the past.
E.g. “I met my best friend when I was fifteen.”
Present Perfect
This tense describes something that happened in the past, but that is related to something in the present.
E.g. “I have read three books by Charles Dickens.”
It is also used to talk about life experiences, recent events or states or things that started in the past and haven’t changed.
E.g:
“I have been to America.”
“I have just finished my dinner.”
“I’ve worked for Spainwise since 2009.”
The important thing to remember is that the present perfect is related to the present in some way. Whereas, the past simple happened at a specific time in the past and is a finished action.
Practice
In the following sentences, which tense (Past Simple or Present Perfect) is needed?
