Helping Teenagers Prepare for PET for Schools Speaking Paper

Diana England Torres Vedras Portugal

Overview of Session

Look at each part of the speaking paper: task type and format, students’ problems, useful strategies;

Non-verbal confidence-building strategies.

Part One (2 – 3 minutes)

• Task Type and Format: individual candidates interact with the interlocutor – answering personal information questions

• Student Problems:- misspelling their surname- offering limited answers and not expanding- not asking for clarification if they didn’t hear or misunderstood the question

Part One

• Useful Strategies: - regular practice in spelling their surname eg as a warmer; - regular practice of simple personal questions eg questions on slips of paper which they work through in pairs; - make one of your check instruction questions: “Are you going to say the minimum or the maximum? Why is this important?”

Part Two (2 – 3 minutes)

• Task Type and Format: simulated situation – candidates discuss various options to try to decide on the best solution to a problem. The interlocutor listens, only intervening if necessary to redirect candidates.

• Student Problems:- an ‘unnatural’ and challenging format given their relative lack of life experience. They have difficulty understanding what ‘interaction’ is and how to manage it;

Part Two continued

• Student Problems: they may ... - not work through the various options shown in the visual prompts, but decide on a solution immediately; - not acknowledge the contribution of their partner; - grind to a halt when they realise they don’t know how to day something in English, or revert to their own language.

Part Two continued

• Useful Strategies: - make sure your students know exactly what to do, how to proceed through the task, and importantly, they know what NOT to do; - insist that your students use paraphrasing rather than “it’s X” (in Portuguese) to explain the meaning of a word

Part Two continued

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Part Three (3 minutes)

• Task Type and Format: extended turn where each candidate describes one photograph

• Student Problems: they may ...- not develop their description in a coherent or logical

fashion;- panic because they can see things they don’t know the

words for in English; - they don’t use appropriate structures or expressions to

help them describe the photograph.

Part Three

• Useful Strategies: - get students to critique a poor example:I see a man, a girl standing. Are in the train….. I think.

The girl ….wearing a white t-shirt, white shoes, white socks, blue shorts. Maybe China….. the writing here. Many people in train, .. no, is bus I think. The woman wearing white t- shirt, white skirt, glasses. The man here wearing black t-shirt, can’t see more. Is hot.

Part Three continued

… and compare it to a more appropriate example:

This picture shows a bus full of people. Some of them are sitting down and others are standing up because there are no more seats. It must be hot because most of the people are wearing t-shirts. The people look Chinese or Malaysian, they are definitely Asian. There is also a poster on the wall with Chinese writing on, so, I think they must be Chinese. There is a girl in the picture who looks like she is going to school because she has a school bag. The boy standing next to her also looks like a student although he hasn’t got a school bag; he’s just listening to music. He could be a university student because he looks a bit older.

Part Three continued

… using this type of assessment criteria:

Compare the two answers and comment on:• the logical development of ideas;• linking words to show the development of ideas;• the vocabulary;• the grammatical structures.

Part Three continued

• Useful Strategies: - get your students to learn some basic questions that they should answer in complete sentences every time they describe a photo:

a) who can you see? where are they? b) what do the people look like? c) what are they doing? d) what time of year is it? how do you know? e) how do you feel about doing this kind of thing? why?

Part Three continued

• Useful Strategies: - help them to develop their ability to paraphrase using these useful sentence frames:

“I don’t know what this is in English, but it’s like a...” “I can’t remember the word for this in English, but it’s kind of ...” “This is something you use for ... / to ...”

Part Four (3 minutes)

• Task Type and Format: general conversation between the candidates on a topic derived from the theme established in Part Three

• Student Problems: they may ... - talk about themselves, but not include their partner, or listen to what their partner has to say; - say the bare minimum because they don’t know how to extend their contribution.

Part Four continued

• Useful Strategies: - train students in the routine of ...

? ? - brainstorm questions that students could ask on a variety of topics : - make sure students know a variety of ways of showing interest and eliciting opinions from their partner

Non-verbal confidence-building strategies• Pre-mock exam preparation - prepare a handout which alerts students to some of the linguistic and non-linguistic issues of the exam

Imagine these things happen in the exam. What do you say? a) You don’t understand the examiner’s instructions. b) You can’t think of anything else to say about the photograph. c) You want to include the other candidate in the conversation. d) You don’t know the word in English for something in the photograph.

Non-verbal confidence-building strategies continued ...

• Post-mock exam feedback - feedback handout which gets students to reflect on their performance and tries to tackle linguistic and non-linguistic issues arising from their mock exam

Learn about the difference between ‘fun’ and ‘funny’.funny = to talk about something or someone that makes you laughHe told a funny joke. She’s a really funny person.

fun = to talk about something that is enjoyable or someone that you enjoy being withWe had a lot of fun at the beach. My best friend is good fun to be with.

Choose the best word to complete the gap: fun, funny or funniest. Be prepared to justify from the rules above.Our day at the beach was really ……………………………. .Don’t laugh; it isn’t very ……………………………. .She’s one of the ……………………………. people I know.The party was great ……………………………. .My sister is a ……………………………. person.

Non-verbal confidence-building strategies continued ...

• Going into the exam room: + + + be positive + + + - SMILE at the examiners

- have a GREAT OPINION of your English

- don’t chew gum

- sit so it’s easy to interact with and look at your partner

And finally ...

Father: How were the exam questions ?Son: Easy.Father: Then why are you looking so unhappy ?Son: The questions didn't give me any trouble, but the answers did!

Thank you!