Reading Comprehension: The Night Market Worksheet (A2)
A printable A2 reading comprehension worksheet built on an original 220-word text about a night market: true or false, multiple choice, questions in the learner's own words, vocabulary from context, and a short writing task. Full answer key and teacher's notes.
About this worksheet
It practises the four things reading questions really test - finding facts, working out a word from its context, understanding why somebody did something, and reading the question properly.
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Reading Comprehension: The Night Market · Level A2 · About 40 minutes
Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________
The night market
1 Every Friday evening, the square behind the bus station changes. At five o'clock it is an empty car park. By seven it is the busiest place in town. Families come to eat, students come to meet their friends, and the whole square smells of frying onions and sweet tea.
2 Ravi has sold fruit there for eleven years. He arrives at four with his brother and they build the stall together: four poles, a plastic roof and two tables. "The building takes an hour," he says, "and the selling takes five." His busiest hour is between eight and nine, when people finish work.
3 Not everyone comes to buy. Mariam, who is sixteen, comes with three friends every week. "We can't afford much," she says. "We buy one plate of noodles and share it. We come for the noise."
4 By midnight the stalls are gone. Ravi and his brother take down the poles, sweep the ground and drive home. On Saturday morning the square is a car park again, and nobody would know that four thousand people stood there the night before.
Task 1. True or false?
Write T or F. Find the words in the text that gave you the answer.
Example: The market happens every Friday evening. → T
- The square is a car park during the day. ____
- Ravi works at the market alone. ____
- It takes Ravi one hour to build his stall. ____
- Mariam and her friends buy a plate of noodles each. ____
- The stalls stay in the square all night. ____
Task 2. Choose the best answer
Circle a, b or c.
Example: The market is behind: a) the school b) the bus station c) the hospital
- Ravi has worked at the market for: a) four years b) five years c) eleven years
- His busiest time is: a) five to six b) eight to nine c) after midnight
- Mariam comes to the market mainly to: a) buy food b) meet her friends and enjoy the noise c) help her family
- On Saturday morning the square is: a) full of stalls b) closed c) a car park again
Task 3. Answer in your own words
Write one full sentence for each. Do not copy whole sentences from the text.
Example: What time does the market become busy? → It is very busy by seven o'clock in the evening.
- Why does Ravi arrive at four o'clock? ________________________
- What does the square smell of? ________________________
- Why does Mariam share one plate of noodles? ________________________
- What do Ravi and his brother do at the end of the night? ________________________
Task 4. Words from the text
Find a word in the text that means the same as each phrase below. The paragraph is given in brackets.
Example: a small shop with a table, in a market (paragraph 2) → stall
- a place where people leave cars (paragraph 1) → ________
- long pieces of wood or metal that hold something up (paragraph 2) → ________
- have enough money for something (paragraph 3) → ________
- clean the ground with a brush (paragraph 4) → ________
Task 5. Your turn
Write six sentences about a market, a shop or a street you know. Say when it is busy, who goes there, and what you can buy.
- ________________________________________
- ________________________________________
- ________________________________________
- ________________________________________
- ________________________________________
- ________________________________________
For the teacher: answer key
| Task | Answers |
|---|---|
| Task 1 | 1 T ("At five o'clock it is an empty car park") 2 F (he arrives with his brother) 3 T ("The building takes an hour") 4 F (they buy one plate and share it) 5 F ("By midnight the stalls are gone") |
| Task 2 | 1 c 2 b 3 b 4 c |
| Task 3 | Suggested answers. 1 Because it takes an hour to build the stall before the market opens. 2 It smells of fried onions and sweet tea. 3 Because she and her friends do not have much money. 4 They take down the poles, sweep the ground and drive home. |
| Task 4 | car park; poles; afford; sweep. |
| Task 5 | Answers will vary. Check: present simple for what usually happens, and at least one sentence saying when it is busy. |
Teacher's notes
- Timing: Tasks 1 to 4 take about 30 minutes; Task 5 about 10, or set it as homework.
- Read the text twice, differently. First for one minute with one question on the board - what kind of place is this? - then again for the tasks. Learners who start on the questions immediately read every word and finish nothing.
- Task 1 asks for the evidence as well as the answer. That habit - point to the words - is what stops learners answering from what they expect rather than what the text says.
- Task 3 is the hard one: answering in their own words. Accept any correct answer that is not copied word for word, and praise short answers over long copied ones.
- Task 4 teaches the skill that matters most in examinations: working out a word from the words around it rather than reaching for a dictionary.
- Extension: learners write three more comprehension questions on the text and swap them with a partner.
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About this worksheet
Written by RCF English to the RCF English international standard: levelled by the CEFR, original throughout, and suitable for classrooms in any country. Last reviewed 22 September 2026.