Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kricket]

I will be giving my final oral exams in 2 weeks. Anyone have any good ideas to test speaking/listening skills?

[The Lemon]

I scan images from the book we use, and omit the words. I use the printouts to ask about vocabulary as well as sentence structure. I find these printouts allow me to be very flexible when I'm testing students.

[gypsyfish]

I copy a picture that has a lot of activity on it and have the S's tell me what's happening/what happened/what's going to happen depending on the grammar point I'm evaluating.

I have them tell me about their family and ask follow up questions. I also have some standard questions llike plans, what they've done, maybe some hypothetical questions.

At midterm, I had S's talk in pairs. One problem was that some came in with a clearly scripted conversation, so it wasn't spontaneous, but it showed that they were trying. I let them do their script for a while and then had them draw some pre-written questions and ask each other them, too.

[rudyflyer]

I base my oral exams on material we've covered. For example if we did directions I will give them a map of Seoul and they will have to tell me how to get somewhere.

Also have them maybe write and recite a paragraph about what they did over the weekend using past tense if I want a grammar focused oral test.

really depends on class/level and material we covered

[The Cube]

..

[posco's trumpet]

[steroidmaximus]

My conversation students have three tests and two major homework assignments: the midterm and final, which are one on one interviews based on class material. I set up interview times for each student based on student number; it usually takes me 2-3 days to do everyone. I have a variety of questions to ask so as to make every test different, but the students all know ahead of time what questions I could ask.

They have a surprise test towards the end of the term. They make a dialogue based on course material and perform it in front of the class. The week prior to this surprise test, I discuss what makes a conversation sound 'natural' as opposed to scripted, i.e. following cues etc. For example, if I person asks you what do you do, you usually don't immediately ask them what their phone number is. I give them 20 minutes to script a dialogue, then test.

The two assignments: one is a group project, where they go out and interview three foreigners. If you've been approached by student aged folks in Insa-Dong, perhaps they are my students. Sorry to all those who get annoyed. Nice photos

The other is a class presentation, content and subject matter varies based on my mood and predilection at the time.

[Canadian Teacher]

For freshmen I work on information questions, who, what, where, when, why and how.

In the mid term, they ask me the questions:

Do you like_____?

When do you___?

Where do you___?

How often do you____?

What____do you____?

Who do you___with?

In the final, I ask and they answer.

If you think this is easy for your students, try it. Korean is not a language of information.

English is.

[Harpeau]

This semester, I'm asking my students to answer two out of four questions for the final oral exam:

1. What are your hopes and dreams for the future?

2. Choose an English movie- why do you like it? Why do you think I might like it? (Don't give away the plot!)

3. In your opinion, was Gus Hiddink a good coach? Should he be re-hired to coach in the next World Cup in Germany in 2006? Why or why not? Explain.

4. Choose a city in the world that you would like to live in for a one year period. (Either working or studying.) Why? What does the city have to offer?

For the final question, if they choose to answer it, they must go on-line and do a bit of research (LP, etc.) about that particular city. Then act as if they're a travel agent telling me why I want to go there. This can be both fun and informative.

I then ask them questions about their journal (12 pages), and give them a vocab. quize. (They must answer 3 out of 6 words correctly.) I also check their Reading textbook.

[rudyflyer]

man harpeau you must have high level students. Mine can barely say "My house is behind E-mart"

wish mine could 1/4th of what you expect.

[ajuma]

I, too use material that we've covered in the text. I give a written mid-term and an oral final. For the final, I group the students in 3's and go over the 3 possibilites. For example, one possibility is a restaurant scene. Waiter and 2 customers. I have a menu (which they don't see until the test), table cloth and some silverware and candles. A second possibility is "plan a trip." I have maps of various countries and they have to discuss how to get there, where to stay and what they'll do.

A week before the exam, we go over what constitutes "conversation" and I give them some "key words" and phrases.

On the day of the final, the groups come in one at a time (starting with the lowest level) and roll a dice. 1&4 get the restaurant. 2&5 get the trip, etc.

You can get through more students more quickly this way, and they can help each other out. The only way to fail is to not talk (and believe me, I've had that happen!!)

[Harpeau]

[lawyertood]

Ditto on basic questions from the units we have studied. For level one (low level) students this includes:

Can you_____?
Do you like to_____?
What did you do last weekend?
What are you going to do this summer?
etc...

For more advanced students I have them bring in a picture from a trip they took and explain the Who?, What?, Where? questions about what they did on the trip......

I used to let them prepare something but I found that many just wrote and read it. Some even wrote it first in Korean, translated it improperly, and then read it. Made for some interesting listening on my part.

Now I just tell them I am going to ask questions like we had been doing in class. It is more spontaneous, therefore a little more like conversation.

[Len8]

You can give them a word arithmetic problem. They're in those paperbacks you can buy at the airports or any where in the U.S. They are puzzle books, and the Koreans have their own version which you can pick up on any news stand. I gave them a problem which was a long division type of thing, only instead of numbers evrything was done in letters. You had to find what number each letter letter represented.

I worked through a couple of problems with them, and as part of their exam I had them explain back to me why a certain letter represented a certain number. You'd be surprised at the effort they put into it. They could see that it wasn't only a challenge to their English ability, but it was also a challenge to their reasoning powers as well.

I had to hold their hands through the exercise until they saw that it wasn't beyond them, and until some of them got the nack of it, and actually reasoned through it.

They also got an English dialogue to prepare for as well.

[Len8]

As far as holding their hands as I said in the previous post I ment that I put the whole word arithmetic problem on the board, and then worked through it slowly. I explained every step slowly i.e Why is A=0. Answ. If you subtract two letters that are the same, the answer must be zero. Therefore A=0. etc etc. When they saw the way I did it they had no problem in completing it