Introductie
Op deze Wikiwijs-pagina vind je informatie over Speaking Skills 2, een PTA-onderdeel van het vwo programma.
Speaking Skills 2
Purpose
In this SE you will prove that you can have and maintain a conversation about things familiar to you as well as more abstract ideas. You can describe events, experiences, your dreams, expectations and ambitions. You can explain and defend your opinions. Your language competence needs to be at B2 level.
You will sit this exam in pairs. The exam consists of a number of assignments, in which you will speak both individually with the examiner, together with your partner, and together with the examiner.
Assignment
You will have a conversation with an examiner and a partner. The conversation consists of four parts:
- Interview - short questions about your personal life
- English literature and culture - respond to pictures and a discussion question
- Collaborative task - work with your partner to discuss a question
- Discussion - answer and discuss in-depth questions
The entire exam takes 15 minutes. There will be two teachers present: the examiner and the note-taker.
The Speaking Skills 2 SE counts for 15% towards your PTA mark.
Preparation
Part 1: Interview
In this part of the exam, you will answer questions individually. These questions are designed to get you talking about a range of general subjects, for example...
- your hobbies, free time activities, hopes and dreams;
- your family and friends;
- your work and school;
- your cultural experiences.
Part 2: English literature and culture
In this part, you will take turns doing a longer individual assignment.
In this assignment, you will select a cue card with a speaking prompt on it.
You will get 30 seconds to think about your response, and then you will be expected to talk about these pictures for about a minute.
Finally, your partner will be asked a quick question about your answers.
Some sample questions:
- Describe a person from English (literary) history who you would like to meet.
- Describe a performance you enjoyed watching.
- Talk about your favourite book or movie.
- If you could travel anywhere in the English-speaking world, where would you go and why?
Part 3: Collaborative task
In this part, you will work together with your partner to discuss an issue. Your examiner will not take part in this discussion.
You can work together in advance to prepare this discussion. When you sign up for the speaking exam, you should also specify which topic you're going to talk about, to prevent double topics.
You are expected to have a 3-minute discussion about an issue in today's society. In this discussion, you will talk about public opinions in this matter and also your own ideas. You can choose your own topic, some ideas are:
- should school uniforms be introduced at HVC?;
- should air travel be forbidden to reduce climate change?;
- in an overpopulated world, should people be free to have as many children as they want?
If you have not prepared this part of the speaking skills exam, you will be given a discussion prompt that you can discuss on the spot.
Part 4: Discussion
In this part, you will engage in a discussion with the examiner with some in-depth questions, related to the topic of your Collaborative task.
If, for example, your collaborative task was spent discussing ideas to increase tourism in an area, some sample questions for the discussion would be...
- Do you think you have to spend a lot of money to have a good holiday? Why (not)?
- Some people say we travel too much these days and shouldn't go on so many holidays. What do you think?
- Do you think people have enough time for holidays these days?
- Why do you think people like to go away on holiday?
- What do you think is the biggest advantage of living in a place where there are a lot of tourists?
- What can people to do to have a good holiday in the Netherlands? Why?
Evaluation
You will be assessed on four categories:
- Grammar and vocabulary --> whether you show control of grammar and vocabulary at B1+ level.
- Discourse Management --> whether you can answer the questions intelligently and organise your thoughts while speaking so that your contribution is clear and relevant.
- Pronunciation --> whether you are easily understood and make no pronunciation errors.
- Interactive Communication --> whether you can keep an actual conversation going with your partner, showing that you listen and incorporate your partner's ideas and that you can negotiate towards an outcome or an arrangement.
In the document below, you will find the full assessment rubric and marking scheme.
6 VWO Speaking skills 2 assessment rubric.pdf
