Speaking Test
Speaking Test
By David F.
Ok. Speaking tests are nothing new and sound quite painful, but I was actually really surprised at the responses I got when I tried it out. I wanted an opportunity to speak to the students one-on-one and evaluate their ability, but at the same time I didn’t want it to feel like a test or for them to feel nervous. I started call by passing out some group-work review worksheets that would take up most of the period. Then I called them one-by-one to the very back of the classroom or to a nearby room for a short interview (about 2 minutes). Now, I was only able to do this in classes with a small class size 15-20. I would not recommend it for larger class, because there simply won’t be enough time (not unless you divide this into a two-period activity).
I kept the questions pretty simple and gave them some examples before we started, so they wouldn’t be surprised and had some time to prepare. I would either ask them about what they did last weekend or what they will do next weekend. After a short conversation, I asked them to read aloud a sentence we had all practiced earlier at the beginning of class as well. I think I had them say, “Could you please show me to my seat?” or something like that. For a little motivation, I went to the grocery store and picked up some candy. I recommend not getting the real cheap stuff because the students will know and not put forth much effort. I used it as prizes for the top 3 people. In the end, I got to know my students better and I think they were able to gain some confidence from having a successful one-on-one conversation all in English.
