Tatiana Odintsova

Tatiana Odintsova,

CELTA, CELTA YL, EGE expert

[email protected]

Russian State Exam (EGE)

speaking: effective preparation

strategies

Russian State Exam.

Speaking Test overview

Task 1 Reading aloud a short text of a neutral style

Task 2 Requesting information about an advertisement

Task 3 Describing a photo

Task 4 Comparing and contrasting two photos

Why is it stressful and difficult?

Recently introduced type of task strange and scary

Computer-based no real communication

Time limit 1,5 min to prepare and 2 min to answer

You can’t pause or go back to the previous task

Distractions: background music or other students’

voices

TASK 1

TASK 1

What is assessed?

Pronunciation and phonetics (pauses, word and phrase stress,

intonation patterns)

Ability to read out loud

When preparing our students we work on:

Individual sounds

Sentence stress

Connected speech

Typical mistakesCandidates mispronounce sounds / θ/, /ŋ/, /h/, /ɜ:/, /w/

Fail to read correctly words with silent letters : muscle, climb, castle

Devoice word ending which can change the meaning of the

word: heat – hid , food – foot

Do not distinguish between long and short vowels : sheep – ship

Do not break the sentence into logical chunks – where to pause

Are not able to read with intonation of enumeration

“Hesitation fillers”

!!! However, if a candidate doesn’t pronounce unstressed syllable with a schwa /ə/, it’s not considered a mistake, e.g.: /ba:na:na:/

tongue twisters

This theatre, that theatre

Vegan vendors Val and Victor vend veg

and stuff at Vegan Venues

She sells seashells by the seashore

They say sloths don’t wear clothes

Word Blender

© Mark Hancock hancockmcdonald.com

APPLES AND PEARS

Word blender makes the following changes

CONSONANT MOVE - the final consonant /z/ in apples

moves to the start of and

CONSONANT CUT – the final consonant in and is cut

CONSONANT CHANGE – the consonant /n/ in and is

changed to/m/ © Mark Hancock hancockmcdonald.com

How about real-life tasks?

Watch TED talks make your own talk

Watch any news video and retell

http://breakingnewsenglish.com/

Watch “inspirational” speeches, e.g. Steve

Jobs at Stanford

write and read

your own speech

TASK 2

TASK 2 What is assessed?

Ability to ask grammatically correct direct questions

Intonation in questions

Communicative task (request info about an advertisement)

Typical mistakes

Candidates describe the photo without asking questions

Request not the information required by the task, but

something different

Pose indirect questions such as “How about…?” or “Tell me

…” - which are not really questions, but offers and requests

Do not follow grammar rules

Asking for information. Split dialogue

Activities to practice question forms

Put the words in order

e.g.: tickets / how/ are/ the /much?

Ask in a different way

How much are the tickets ? How much does it cost to

get in?

Make up questions

e.g.: price? - How much are the tickets?

USE ROLE PLAYS

Student A Student B

Don’t forget about authentic materials

TASK 3

TASK 3

What is assessed?

Ability to describe photos and provide the information

requested in the task (3 points)

Ability to organize their speech according to the suggested

plan (2 points)

Use of English (a candidate can make not more than 2 slight

mistakes in grammar or phonetics) (2 points)

TASK 4

TASK 4What is assessed?

Ability to describe, compare and contrast photos, express

personal opinion and give reasons

Ability to organize speech according to the suggested plan

Use of English (a candidate can make not more than 2 slight

mistakes in grammar or phonetics)

Typical mistakes Candidates do not follow the task: in task 3 compare and

contrast the photos, in task 4 just describe without comparing

Do not follow the suggested plan (introduction, 2-3 phrases for each point, conclusion) and talk in random order

Do not address a friend

Do not express their opinion about the topic

Do not use clichés for description of a photo (in the background, in the foreground, on the left, on the right)

Misinterpret the idea of the picture

Make a lot of grammar and pronunciation mistakes

Provide a list of useful expressions

Describe the photo using these phrases

This photo shows …

In the foreground …

There are …in the background …

People in the picture look …

They could be …

The atmosphere in the photo

…

It seems to me that …

One the other hand …

Personally, I ‘d prefer …

Activities for using pictures Spot mistakes. T describes (spoken or written) a picture,

but with some differences. Ss listen/read and find difference

between what they hear/read and what they see.

Picture dictation. In pairs: Student A describes a pic,

Student B must listen and draw according to what they hear.

Memory game: T shows the picture for a limited time.

Then hides it and Ss say what was on it from memory.

Identify in a crowd: In a busy scene, describe someone

and they must identify the one you describe.

Spot the difference

Activities with 2 and more picturesFind the difference : Students in pairs, describing the pictures to one another and discovering where the differences are.

Remember the differences: Show first picture. Then hide it and show the other. They say what the difference was from memory.

Invent a connection: Take a random pair of pictures. They must invent a way they are connected.

Matching: Students could decide which pictures belong together, eg if there are one set of families and another set which show houses or cars.

Invent a connection

Thanks for your attention

Tatiana Odintsova,

[email protected]

PS: Exams are fun , enjoy the preparation process ;)

Tatiana Odintsova

Education

Transcript of Tatiana Odintsova