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Summarise What You Heard is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on summarising a text or presentation accurately, aligned to Common Core standard SL.5.2. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

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Summarise What You Heard

SL.5.2

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

What Happened to the Textile Towns

Between 1965 and 1990 the British textile industry lost roughly four fifths of its jobs. Three causes are usually given, and they are not equally weighted. Cost is the one most often cited. Spinning and weaving are labour-intensive, and wages in the countries that took the work were a fraction of British wages. This explains a great deal. Investment matters too. Much British machinery dated from before the war. Where firms did re-equip — and some did — they survived longer, which suggests the cost argument is not the whole story. The third cause is the hardest to see: the industry was concentrated. A car plant closing takes a town's largest employer; a mill closing often took its only one, along with the suppliers and the shops that depended on it. That concentration is why the closures show up in the population figures of particular towns and not in national ones.

  1. 1. Determine two main ideas of this text and explain how details support each.
  2. 2. Summarise this text.
  3. 3. How many textile jobs were lost between 1965 and 1990?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

The Mill: The Local Paper, June 1980

Whately's Mill closed on Friday with the loss of 214 jobs, the largest single closure in the town since the war. The mill had run since 1868. At its height it employed more than 600. Mr Whately declined to say when he had known the closure was certain. The Chamber of Commerce has called for a public inquiry; the union has called the closure "predictable for two years". The council says a retraining fund will open in September. Four other textile mills within twenty miles have closed since 1975. Nobody the paper spoke to expected the site to be used for textiles again.

  1. 1. When had the mill been running since?
  2. 2. Summarise this report.
  3. 3. How many jobs were lost?

LessonPrint · SL.5.2 · Set 1 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Summarise What You Heard

Set 1. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. First, cost was the largest but not the only cause — supported by firms that re-equipped surviving longer. Second, concentration made the damage local — supported by the population figures. 2. British textiles lost four fifths of its jobs to lower foreign wages, ageing machinery and a concentration that turned each closure into a town's whole economy. 3. Roughly four fifths.
  2. 2.1. 1868. 2. Whately's Mill closed with 214 jobs lost after 112 years, the union called it predictable, the Chamber wants an inquiry, and four nearby mills had already gone. 3. 214.

Questions about Summarise What You Heard

What does the Summarise What You Heard worksheet cover?

It practises summarising a text or presentation accurately — 2 questions for Grade 5, all on Common Core SL.5.2: Summarise a text or presentation you heard or watched. The instruction to pupils is “Read the text, then answer the questions”, and the answer key follows on the next sheet.

Which Common Core standard does Summarise What You Heard practise?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.2 — SL.5.2, in the Speaking & Listening domain for Grade 5. The published standard reads: “Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.” The worksheet assesses that standard rather than a paraphrase of it.

What age or grade is this worksheet for?

Summarise What You Heard is written for Grade 5, typically ages 10-11. It is one of the sheets on SL.5.2, so it suits any pupil working at that standard — including older pupils revisiting it and younger ones working ahead.

Does Summarise What You Heard come with an answer key?

Yes. All 2 answers are generated from the same problems as the questions, so the key cannot drift out of step with the sheet. It starts on a fresh sheet of paper, after the questions, so it is not handed out with the class by accident.

How many different versions of Summarise What You Heard can I print?

25 — one per pupil, and all 25 ask different questions. Set 1 downloads the whole class as a single PDF. Every version is fixed to its own address, so a sheet printed today holds the same problems when you reopen it next week.

Is Summarise What You Heard free to print and photocopy?

Yes. Summarise What You Heard, its answer key and its 25 versions are free to print and photocopy for your own class, with no account, no email capture and no subscription at the download step. Please do not resell them or republish them as your own.

Is there a lesson plan to teach SL.5.2?

Yes — “Summarising a Text Read Aloud” is a 40-minute Grade 5 plan for SL.5.2, timed section by section, with the misconceptions to expect and an exit ticket. Summarise What You Heard is the practice that follows it.

More practice for SL.5.2

Summarise a text or presentation you heard or watched.

Teaching this next? Summarising a Text Read Aloud is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 5 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to SL.5.2 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.