How to prepare students for the oral exam
To prepare students for the oral exam and develop interactive skills we should maximise opportunities for interaction in the target language both in and out of the classroom.
Teachers should also maximise use of interactive techniques in class that build student confidence in the target language, like:
- Have student practicing description of visual stimuli on the range of topics and themes of the Language ab-initio syllabus
- Have students practice dialogue/debates on a range of topics
- Have students engage in QA with teachers and/or peers on the range of topics and themes of the language ab-initio syllabus
- Stimulate real exchanges with native speakers (skype session with twinned schools are an example)
- Promote students´participation to language opportunities outside schools (for example language/cultural events promoted by Language Institutions/associations)
Audio portfolio
The use of a portfolio is an excellent strategy in class to maximise students practice of productive and interactive skills on the range of topics and themes of the Language ab-initio syllabus
We suggest the use of the application Voicethread that allows teachers and students to create, share, and comment on images, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, videos, audio files, documents, and PDFs, using microphone, webcam, text, phone, and audio-file upload.
This learning tool could be used in class to practice the Individual oral. Students will be able to write a range of statements for describing the visual stimuli as well as record it.
The platform is interactive, therefore it is suitable for pair and group work. Students could contribute in groups to the description of the same stimulus.
The recording option is available, therefore teachers may wish to use this platform to provide exemplar descriptions of visual stimuli. In this way, students can practice picture descriptions, vocabulary and also pronunciation.
Here is an example of how this tool could be used to practice the Individual oral.