10th May 2012 11:44
By Blue Tutors
Oral Exams - English
I have this week taught my first lesson on an Oral examination in English. Being quite a practised public speaker I brought what I had been taught to bear and it seemed to work quite well.
Start up
Remember your assessment starts the moment you walk into the room. Be bright, smiling and confident. Greet your assessor as an equal, not as a servant, but remember to maintain a formal professionalism at all times.
Stand up
If your assessment is a presentation to the class make sure you practise while you are standing up. We did the whole lesson standing up! My student was fairly nervous but soon got used to being able to move around as he spoke. We spoke generally at first, about the topic on which he was speaking and things he thought were important in a presenter, in order to make him comfortable with standing, speaking and moving. We naturally gesticulate more when we are standing and this was brought into his presentation more fluidly once he had go used to this posture.
Speak up
It can be hard for nervous teenagers to project their voice loudly enough to gain any gravitas, only practise makes this achievable. Even in the hour lesson we had my student was able to project much more volubly than at the start.
Cue up
Using cue cards is sensible. Even for a 5 minute talk they may forget the order in which they want to speak about certain things - a few key words on a cue card can make all the difference!
Proper preparation prevents poor perfomance. This is just as true for an oral exam as for any other exam - make sure you prepare your student thoroughly but without rote learning. They need to be able to be themselves, so don’t allow them to overlearn their talk.