guide to speaking exams f 1

7/28/2019 Guide to Speaking Exams f 1

1/4

When?4th May 2010, as part of your Module 4 exams.

How much is it worth?Module 4 = 50% of your final grade. Its made up of:

30 min Listening exam = 12.5%

30 min Reading exam = 12.5%

40 min Writing exam = 12.5%

5 min Speaking exam = 12.5%

What do you have to do? 1 roleplay

Short conversation on 2 topics

How does the exam work? Youll do your speaking exam in school with Miss Green. It will be recorded, then the

tape will be sent to the exam board to be marked.

The exams are run in 3 sessions before break, after break and in the afternoon.

Youll be told which session to come to. Everyone in that session will arrive at thesame time and go to a pre-exam room, where you wait until youre called for yourexam. When youve done your exam, you go back to lessons.

When its your turn, youll go to a different room & youll have 5 mins preparation time.

In your preparation time, youll have a copy of the roleplay card and the card showing

the topics for your conversation. You can make notes and take these into your examwith you.

When your preparation time ends, youll go into the exam room and do your roleplay

and conversation. It only lasts 5 minutes so its reallynothing to worry about!!


2/4

The Roleplay

When you arrive in the preparation room, youll be given a card that looks like this:

You can use your prep time to plan each of the 4 things you have to say in French. When

you do your exam, your teacher will begin the conversation and give you time to respond.

Tips for a good roleplay What role is your teacher playing should you use tu

(informal) or vous (polite) when you speak to them?

Use vocab that youre confident with .

The things you have to say are quite general, so stick tothings you know how to say it doesnt have to be true!

The important thing is to get your message across

If one of the things youre asked to say includes a word

you dont know in French, think of another way to getthat message across, e.g. if youre supposed to ask theway to the train station but you dont know the word fortrain station, you could say where can I take a train?

If you dont understand what the teacher said, or youre

not sure where you are in the roleplay, just say je necomprends pas o r pouvez-vous rpter? and theteacher will repeat what they said. You wont lose anymarks for this, in fact it makes you look a lot better than ifyou just sit there quietly panicking!

MarkingYoull be given a mark out of 2 for each of the 4 things you have to say, according tothese criteria:


3/4

Question wordsComment = howPourquoi = whyQuand = whenA quelle heure = at what time

Quel/quelle = which/whatO = whereQuest-ce que tu as = what have youAvec qui = with whomQui = who

Important things to know for the roleplay

1. TU or VOUSLook at the situation youre given.

Talking to a friend use TU.

Talking to a stranger use VOUS.

2. WHAT TENSE?Read the top of the card where it tells you what the situation is. This will give you a cluewhether youre talking about the past, present or future.

Forming questions1. Say a statement, but make your voice higher at the end of the sentence so it soundslike a question.

2. Swap the subject & the verb

Tu es all en vacances.Es-tuall en vacances?

If you need a question word, just put it at the start Quandes-tu all en vacances?

3. Put est-ce que at the beginning of a statement

Tu es all en vacances. Est-ce que tu es all en vacances?

If you need a question word, add it before est-ce queQuandest-ce que tu es all envacances?


4/4

The Conversation

Your conversation will be on 2 topics, one from each of these groups:

When you go into thepreparation room, youll be

given a card which tells youthe 2 topics youll have totalk about. You can useyour preparation time tomake some notes to planwhat youll say in the exam.

Tips for a good conversation Control the conversation yourself you have 2-4 minutes to show off how much

French you know. If you give a short answer when the teacher asks you a question,

theyll have to keep asking questions until the time is up so theres more risk thattheyll ask a question you dont understand or cant answer! If you say as much aspossible for each question, you can control the conversation and stick to things youknow will sound impressive.

Use different tenses to get a C, you have to use past, present and future tenses.

Plan in advance how you can easily include these in your conversation.

Use varied vocab try not to use the same verbs/adjectives etc more than once.

MarkingYoull be given marks forcommunication, spontaneity/fluency & quality of language.

guide to speaking exams f 1

Documents