Job Discussion Forums

[SimonM]

My colleague and I are designing an exam for second year college students. The subject is speaking. For our methodology we decided to create a jar full of random topics which the students will each randomly select at the begining of the exams. We are looking for a resource where we could find appropriate topic sentences. My colleague found a website with this once but she can't find it now and so we wondered if anyone has found such a resource anywhere. It will otherwise take us a lot of time (that we'd rather spend designing the two other exams we are responsible for writing) to make 50-100 viable sentences.

Please help.

[Roger]

I don't know why it should be sooo difficult to find a suitable "topic" for oral class exams; it is far more challenging making students actually seize on the opportunity to engage in a genuine dialogue with an English speaker.

That's why I don't offer "topics" any more; I make my English exam takers rehearse a stanza from the lyrics of a song or a poem; this year I chose "I am a rock" and "The Sounds of Silence" from Simon & Garfunkel. Not only are the lyrics easy to memorise and harmonious of sound; they also happen to be popular, and you can always expand on the song as an entrance to a discussion.

By the way, I am too lazy to make photocopies for my students; I dictate these songs. Makes the crowds actually work in class, and after it (memorising it!).

[klasies]

Simon

Try this one. It has hundreds of conversational topics which I use in class under the name of 'A Cup Of Conversation'

http://iteslj.org/questions/

The one called What if............ is pretty good.


A

[tw]

I used many of the ones at http://waze.net/oea/activities/25

[Girl Scout]

You could also find a copy of the IELTS prep. book. (The speaking module) The are hundreds of questions to be found there. I use it in all of my oral classes.

[KarenB]

You know, I used to use those kinds of general interview questions or topics for speaking classes, but then I decided that it's not particularly fair. If they're asked to speak on any random subject, then you're not necessarily testing on what you taught in class. So all you're really doing is testing their overall speaking ability (which might be ok, if that's your objective), rather than testing whether they've mastered what you've been teaching in class. So, I've changed test questions and/or topics to reflect only the topics we covered in class for the term. I expect them to do whatever it was I was teaching them. So I might have them memorize and recite (or just read) the dialogs from the text to test their fluency, pronunciation, and reduced speech, or I might have them do the same activities (role plays, or whatever) that we did in class.

[7969]

[SimonM]

Thanks guys!

[andrew_gz]

Scene: IELTS center

Applicant (one of Roger's former students) strides confidently into the room

Examiner: Your topic, golden oldies.

Applicant (after a minutes consideration): warbles a stilted version of "I am a rock"

Examiner: Bravo! Full marks. Next!

Ground control to "Mister Rogers" (think space oddity)
Harmonious yes, applicable no.

"I am too lazy to photocopy"
Reminds of the over-weight couple wearing stretch pants and matching "I'm with him/her "t-shirts. (they have given up)

"Easy to memorize" talk about preaching to the converted.

I don't know, but assigning topics (sometimes with no advance notice) like, "Beijing 2008", "pollution" and "emigration" allows me to correct their grammar and fluency not to mention spurring additional questions and conversation.

I find that encouraging my students to converse on a wide-ranging array of topics not only enhances their chances of passing the almighty tests but not inadvertently turns them into relatively competent conversationalists.

But then, I am always open to new ideas.

BTW I teach middle school students

[Don McChesney]

Oral English exams one to one for 16 to 18 year old girls.
I buy cheap glossy magazines from the second hand book shop and take out pages showing fashion, models, people in surroundings etc.
I ask them. "tell me what you can see in the picture, what are they wearing, what are they doing, where are they, what do you think they are saying, why are they there?."
This lets me listen to (1) sentence construction, (2) grammar, (3) vocabulary and (4) speed of English and pronunciation, as well as their imagination and understanding.
The slow ones only give me colour, garments, objects, but the best ones make up a story about what they think is happening, often it is amusing and very constructive.
They also enjoy the test, so it reduces the chance of a student 'freezing' and saying nothing. If they do, I retest them at a later date.