There are lots of posts on here about how I develop pupils' ability to use a core repertoire to express themselves. Does this mean I just send them into the speaking exam to improvise answers without any exam preparation? Well, for their mock, that is exactly what they did. And they showed me and themselves that they can answer the questions and get a reasonable grade. But in the run-up to the exam, how do we practise and prepare and revise, without ending up with a fixed answer to learn off by heart for a long list of questions?
I do have a list of starter questions. I've seen the lists my own kids come home with and I'm a bit confused. Things like "List the things you do in your day" or "Describe your classroom". Why would anyone ask these questions when there are no marks for listing or describing? All my questions are an invitation for the pupil to talk, giving opinions and justifying them, giving detail in the past and the future, and turning it into a narration. Because that's what the markscheme asks for, and also because it's a great way to develop answers using a good variety of language. And to develop a core repertoire that can be deployed without having to memorise answers. So most of my questions either directly ask for an opinion, or can be answered with one. So I wouldn't ask, "Describe your brother", but I might ask "Do you get on with your brother?"
The pupils know that these questions will not be asked in a fixed order. And that there will be follow up questions. Some by moving from one question to the next, depending on the pupil's previous answer: Do you like music? Do you like to play music or listen to music? Do you like to go to concerts? And more often by little prompts and interjections, such as and... Why...? but if not...? so... for example...?
Preparing for the exam. Here's what I 've been doing over the last couple of weeks, so that the pupils go home for the Easter holidays with material to revise, and confident that they can practise their answers ready for the exam.
When pupils got a list of questions, the first thing we did was attack them in speaking. Not writing. And pupils work through the questions with a partner, just giving a very short answer to show that they can answer the question.
Tu aimes le sport? Oui, j'adore le sport
For all the questions on the list. In speaking. And then only later in the lesson or for homework do they do it in writing.
Then in a later lesson, we will return to the questions and this time their partner will ask follow up questions:
Tu aimes le sport? Oui, j'adore le sport. Pourquoi? Parce que je peux jouer au tennis avec mes amis. Et...?
Moving through the questions quickly, adding a reason to the opinion, or using especially if... to explore it further. Doing it as a speaking, then writing up a version of their improvised answers.
So they might have an answer along the lines of:
J'aime le sport parce que je peux jouer au tennis avec mes amis au parc le week-end, surtout s'il fait beau, mais s'il pleut, je ne peux pas.
Made out of language they know they can use in the exam and which will tick the boxes for the examiner. And joined together with the conjunctions I will be able to use in the exam to prompt for more. Knowing they will always be able to respond.
In the next lesson, we looked at adding a quick past or future reference so that if I say "For example...?" they can say, Par exemple je suis allé(e) au parc le week-end dernier et on a joué au tennis. Or if I say, "so...?" they can say, "Alors, le week-end prochain je dois faire mes devoirs." Again, they build up answers speaking with a partner, working through many questions on different themes during the lesson. Improvising opinions, reasons and adding past and future references. And then add the new ingredient (past tense / future reference) to their written versions.
Then in the next lesson, we worked on narrating, so instead of just saying, "I went to the park", we work on the routines of developing narration with a combination of past tenses and some speech, maybe some conflict or disappointment.
Par exemple, le week-end, je voulais aller au parc avec mes amis parce qu'il faisait beau, mais ma mère a dit non parce que j'ai dû faire mes devoirs.
At no point did they sit down to write a long answer and learn it. They started with short spoken answers. And have added to them lesson after lesson. But based on improvised spoken answers in interaction with a partner.
Then today we added more detailed answers for talking about the future. Quand j'aurais vingt ans... Si j'avais le choix... Ma mère ne veut pas que je... These are useful for obvious future answers to do with jobs or future study. But also for questions like, "Do you prefer to go on holiday with friends or your family?"
So that's where pupils are up to. They have gone home for the Easter holidays with written up versions of answers. But they are answers which were originally improvised in speaking. They can practise their answers and check their verb endings. They can remember what structures they want to show off and make sure they aren't hesitating for ideas. But they don't need to learn word by word, because they already know all the words. How would they have written answers they didn't know the words for? And in the exam they won't deliver memorised answers. Because I will make sure I use follow up questions and prompts to keep asking them for more detail and pushing them in different directions.
For some reason I have ended up giving the examples in French when my Y11 group do Spanish. Because I set out to write it about general principles, and ended up talking about what my group have been doing. By which time it was too late to go back and change the language!
Brilliant stuff
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