Speaking Success: Trinity GESE Grade 1
Initial stage · CEFR Pre-A1 — the tasks, themes and language of Grade 1, practised by Philo and Sophia.
•Grade 1, at a glance
Initial stageCEFR Pre-A15 minutesOne-to-one with the examiner
At the Initial stage the examiner leads the whole exam. It is a friendly conversation, often using objects and pictures. You show you understand by speaking and by doing things, such as pointing.
1What you need to do (communicative skills)
- Greet the examiner and say goodbye
- Show you understand simple instructions by doing them (pointing, touching, standing up)
- Give very short answers: one or two words are fine
2Themes and topics (subject areas)
The vocabulary you need
Topics
- Personal information
- Things in the room and classroom objects
- Parts of the face and body
- Animals: pets, farm and wild
- Numbers 1–20
- Colours
- Everyday clothes
3Language functions and grammar (what the examiner listens for)
Functions
- Exchanging greetings
- Giving personal information (name, age)
- Identifying and naming things
- Leave-taking
Grammar and language
- to be in the present: I’m seven. It’s red.
- Singular and plural nouns: shoe / shoes, foot / feet
- Simple adjectives: small, tall, green
- a, the, my, your, his, her; I, you, he, she, it, they
- Understand: go, come, show, point, give, touch, stand up; what? how many? how old?; this, that, these, those
Worked example — a five-minute chat with young Philo
ExaminerHello! What’s your name?
ExaminerHow old are you, Philo?
ExaminerShow me your nose.
ExaminerWhat colour is this pencil?
ExaminerHow many books are there?
ExaminerThank you, Philo. Goodbye!
Tips for Grade 1
- Practise the instructions as a game: Simon says touch your ear!
- One-word answers are fine, but full short answers (It’s red) are even better.
- Learn to say Sorry? or Can you repeat that, please? if you don’t understand.
•How Grade 1 is assessed
The examiner gives a letter grade for each phase, for task fulfilment: how well you use the communicative skills, functions, grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of this grade and all the grades before it, with good fluency.
A · DistinctionAn excellent performance.
B · MeritA good performance.
C · PassA satisfactory performance.
D · FailNot yet satisfactory: the report shows what to work on.
All Trinity examsGrade 2 →
Based on Trinity College London’s GESE specifications (from January 2026). Always check trinitycollege.com/GESE for the current version.