GCSE Speaking Presentation Final Friday 5th February-1

Exploring the AQA GCSE Speaking Assessment. How do we Plan, Teach and Assess?

Teacher Standards 2, 3, 4 and 6

Session objectives

1. Enhance our understanding of the AQA GCSE specification (DfE, 2015) and curriculum progression from KS3

2. Consider the key features of the AQA GCSE speaking exam

3. Develop our understanding of how to assess speaking

4. Consider how we might approach teaching each element of the speaking assessment

Getting to know the GCSE specification

Teaching implications

• Vocabulary: high frequency language across a range of topics; dealing with unfamiliar language

• Grammar: deeper understanding of how language works

• Using language for own purposes in speaking and writing

• Introduction of a wider range of literary texts and authentic sources in the listening and reading papers

• Some subject content approaches A Level topics

Mapping progress: GCSE Speaking and Writing

KS4

KS3

Grade 1: single words, short single phrasesGrade 1+: longer sentences, simple connectives Grade 2 : opinion phrases, justification,basic questions, negatives, familiar language Grade 3: talking about others, more complex sentences, sequencers, intensifiers Grade 4: short paragraphs, range of contexts, three tenses, giving and seeking information, increasing accuracy

Grade 5: longer paragraphs, confidently operate across three tenses, correct regular verb conjugation, responding to unexpected questions and expanding answers, asking unsolicited questions, narrating events, mostly accurate and meaning clear Grade 6: correct irregular verb conjugation, extended passages, use coping strategies to deal with unknown words, linking sentences and paragraphs, structuring ideas, a few errors with more complex grammatical structures

Mapping progress GCSE speaking and writing

KS4

KS4

Grade 9:Use uncommon vocabulary,interact naturally, with occasional hesitation, use complex tenses such as the imperfect, conditional, pluperfect.

Grade 7: varied complex structures, extended opinions and justifications on a range of different topics, well structured work, creative use of familiar languageGrade 8: range of less common vocabulary and more complex grammatical structures, range of tenses including less common tenses such as the conditional. Interact naturally, with little hesitation and little rephrasing, use language effectively to narrate, inform, interest and convince, varied and interesting vocabulary

Pearson progression scale

How does the GCSE all add up?

Grade Boundaries AQA 2019

Max Mark

Subject paper

French Foundation 8658F

240

169

152

71

111

31

French Higher 8658H

181

240

159

203

97

123

141

106

For breakdown of raw marks and grade allocations per skill for French, German and Spanish see AQA (2019) grade boundaries

Foundation and Higher Tier

How do I decide on a student’s tier of entry?

How well do students consistently meet the Higher mark bands on speaking and writing? How comfortable is he/she at dealing with the more complex language and grammatical structures used in Higher tier papers? Can the student deal with questions that require inference/drawing conclusions in more abstract material? How comfortable is the student able to respond to unseen tasks which are more open ended in the Higher tier writing paper?

How do I decide on a student’s tier of entry?

Look at the crossover questions across the skills - this is a good indicator of students' potential performance at Higher tier Which tier will be most appropriate for the student’s expected performance overall? Attitude to learning (there is no way they can do Higher if they are not going to work for it) Parental support For borderline candidates, do not risk entering for Higher – go with Foundation

How do I assess and teach towards speaking at Foundation and Higher tiers?

What is needed for 'good' speaking?

How the speaking is broken down: 60 marks

Grade boundaries for French speaking AQA 2019

• Pupil preparation time: 12 mins (F&H)

• They can make as many notes for the role-play and the photo card as they like in the 12 minutes.

• For the photo card they need to write answers/notes to the prepared questions that are developed well.

• Written notes can be read verbatim during the test.

• Tests are conducted across a 5 week period April to May.

• Good idea to separate out Foundation and Higher candidates – Foundation first.

Asking questions: students can use a statement followed by ‘et toi’? Eg J’aime le français. Et toi? Or J’ai quinze ans. Et ta soeur? Knowing how to form key questions. Est-ce-que…? À quelle heure…? Que fais-tu pour….?

Present tense. High frequency verbs/structures: e.g. il y a, je voudrais, je fais, on a

One sentence answers, possibly two if the question on the Higher paper asks for 2 details

Dealing with the unexpected (!) – knowing question words and stem transformations

Simple opinions: e.g je prèfère, j’aime but no justification with ‘because’ needed to extend

Basic numbers

Role Play marking criteria: 15 marks

There are five tasks for the Role-play.

For the role play overall Up to 5 marks

For each task = 2 marks 2 x 5 = 10 marks

Role play: tips

Teacher must keep to the script – you can not re-phrase; Repetition of the question is okay if the student doesn’t reply ; If the student gives an incorrect answer, but then self-corrects, this is acceptable; If more than one detail is requested, but the student only gives one, say ‘and ...’ or ‘anything else?’ in the target language; When you are asked a question by the student, keep the reply brief. Timing: 2 minutes for F and 2 minutes for H

Photocard

Extended utterances are key – Students need to develop their answers by: Considering positives and negatives to each statement, talking about what other people do Using connectives to extend turns of phrase F – 2mins H – 3 mins Remember that they are being assessed for COMMUNICATION in this section, not range of language

Students do not need to ask a question for this section of the speaking exam

Tenses: Foundation- two tenses Higher – all three tenses (past, present and future)

Have a bank of adjectives to the ready (positive and negative)

Demonstrate use of opinions and some more complex opinions –e.g. – je pense que, à mon avis, selon moi, etc Explain and justify opinions

The first three questions are always printed on the card; the first question is always “qu’est-ce qu’il y a sur la photo?”

The last two unseen questions will test the other tenses

Photocard tips

• Ask only the five questions in the teacher’s booklet, no follow-up questions;
• The unexpected question may be paraphrased but the same meaning must be maintained;
• Interrupt a student who may not have time to answer all five questions because their first answer is very long;
• If a student has a long pause, it may be better to move on so more questions will be answered;
• If a student answers more than one question at a time, move on to the next question;
• Collect in the cards and notes before the start of the general conversation.

Answers need to be well-developed, confident, showing a good range of structures and sounding as if they are enjoying it!

Students will need to ensure they ask ONE question in this section of the speaking exam. Prompt them if they don’t!

The conversation is based on the two themes which have not been covered on the Photo card. The student will choose the first theme; the second theme is the remaining theme which has not been covered in the Photo card part of the test. (so all 3 themes are covered)

Spontaneity – students need to try to sound as if have not over-rehearsed. Throw in an additional question or two. The trick is for students to sound as if they had never heard the question before. Teach time wasters e.g. hmmm, let me think, that is a difficult question, wait a minute, so…. etc

Foundation students may not do so well if they are asked lots of questions in different tenses. However, in order to score in the top band for range & accuracy of language, Foundation students need to make successful reference to all three time frames.

A similar amount of time should be spent on each theme: Foundation: 3-5 mins Higher: 5-7 mins

Marks for General Conversation

• Communication: 10 marks
• Range and Accuracy of Language: 10 marks
• Pronunciation and Intonation: 5 marks
• Spontaneity and Fluency: 5 marks

There are separate mark schemes for Foundation and Higher for this part of the speaking assessment. Mark Scheme Paper 2

Quizalize: GCSE speaking

Class code:eap42446

Group work Listen to: 2 role plays(F/H) 2 photo cards (F/H) 2 general conversations in French (F/H) Mark each element with the relevant speaking criteria given and compare your group’s assessment with those of the exam board. How accurate were you?

Where you record your marks

Resources

How to teach the various elements of the speaking exam: tips

Tie role plays and photocards into the topic areas as you go (rather than leaving this right to the end of Year 11) Similarly for conversation questions – as they go Connect to writing tasks (model answers for conversation questions) Ensure you build in a speaking mock into both Year 10 and Year 11 (preferably two speaking mocks in Year 11) Ensure you have speaking booklets prepared for student practice at the start of Year 10.

How to teach the role play

Explicitly model Highlight the general instructions: context and register Highlight the ! and ? marks and what these mean Show your students the mark scheme Importance of timed practice

Students can ask for clarification as long as you ask in French. If you respond to the question successfully afterwards, you can get the full marks.

If students are asked for two details, you need to clearly communicate two details, otherwise you get a mark of 1.

Practicing the role play card

• Test and retest understanding of the bullet points in TL (eg Sentence Stealer, oral translation board games, dominoes, Quizlet, etc!)
• Get students to understand that they can not repeat the bullet points back
• Get them to focus on the question words and verbs in the question and use them in their answer: clearly exemplify stem transformations

As-tu…..? J’ai…. Comment sont tes professeurs…..? Mes professeurs sont… Qu’est-ce que tu penses de….? Je pense que…

• Unprepared questions – there are a finite number across the topic areas!

Practicing the role play card

Hammer in high frequency verbs that can be recycled across topics across the three time frames: holiday, last weekend, media, school, work For lower attainers: Using first person singular (and possibly first person plural?) for each high frequency verb: e.g. drumming in je vais, je vais aller, je suis allé and il y a / il y avait, etc

Forming questions

Match-up activity – with or without red herring

Modelling the question in sentences with different verbs

Forming questions

Forming questions through translation activities

Forming questions

Making statements into questions

Flippity Manipulatives

HotseatingPass the parcel Taboo

Practising different ways to ask the same question in French

Peer assessment:

Then you make a tent/wigwam

On one side you have the role play in the Target Language

Teacher-examiner role

Student role

Students start off by reading the role play in the TL, one as student, one as teacher-examiner. Then they swap roles. Then they flip over the tent and do the role play from the English side, with support if required Stretch: parts of the text might be underlined on the English side to add challenge – eg find another word that would fit into the context.

On the other side of the same piece of paper you have the role play in English

How to teach the photocard

Vrai ou faux?

Scaffolding the photo card – bullet point 1

1. Il y a cinq personnes dans la photo.

2. Ils sont chez eux.

3. Les élèves portent un uniforme.

4. C’est un cours de mathématiques.

5. Tous les élèves travaillent bien .

Vrai ou faux?

Scaffolding the photo card – bullet point 1

1. Il y a cinq personnes dans la photo.

2. Ils sont au collège.

3. Les élèves ne portent pas un uniforme.

4. C’est un cours de mathématiques.

5. Deux élèves travaillent bien .

Ecris les phrases en français.

1. The pupils are in school.

2. They are reading the newspaper.

3. All the pupils are working.

4. It is a secondary school.

5. It is a primary school.

6. They are answering questions.

C’est photo A ou Photo B?

des infinitifs

Focus on 3rd person singular and plural forms

être

to be*

apprendre

to learn

travailler

to work

écrire

to write

to teach

enseigner

lire

to read

parler

to speak

1. It is a school.

porter

to wear

2. There are some pupils.

3. The teacher is teaching geography.

il y a

there is/are =

4. The pupils are working on computers.

5. They are not wearing a school uniform.

le/la prof

The teacher

un garçonune fille

6. They are learning geography.

A boy/a girl

7. The teacher is speaking.

The pupilsThe people

les élèves les gens

8. The pupils are not speaking.

¿Cómo es …?

¿Qué hay en la foto?

People/physical descriptionActionLocationMood(Weather)

¿Dónde está…?

¿Qué hacen?

Lots of these sorts chatty mats for bullet point 1 are available on TES resources. But don't get sucked in!

Remember though….

• The criteria refers to development across all 5 bullet points, not just a description of the photo
• Learn to use vocabulary given in the question to answer it
• Anticipate the vocabulary for that topic: the two unexpected questions are linked to the topic, not the photo (and link this to conversation questions)
• Focus on tenses: get students to check in their preparation time if they have had the opportunity to use different time phrases with different questions
• Focus on giving opinions across the tenses using a variety of adjectives
• Know thy question words really well - both to initiate and respond

How to teach the general conversation

• There are a range of questions published by AQA for French, German and Spanish for Foundation and Higher tier. Look at the Teacher Booklet
• Students need to prepare developed answers to topic questions
• 10 key questions on each theme is enough; but students should not know in advance exactly which questions will be asked
• You will also need to ensure that you are following up student responses with appropriate questions to allow for spontaneity/less predictability
• Provide written models on the board of how to develop and extend an answer using a good range of language
• Provide recordings with a colleague of a conversation on a theme, starting off with a basic question and then listening to how the teachers develop the conversation.

How to teach the general conversation

• Use transferable language to develop answers:
• eg j’aime….parce que c’est….mais je préfère…..c’est le plus – can be used for school subjects, food, sports, hobbies, celebrations, technology
• Develop use of golden questions/killer questions across the topics; use open questions
• Practise the questionsin class in speaking lines, board games, chatterbox templates , pass the parcel, etc
• Ensure that students curate their best work together in one place for the general conversation (either in paper booklet OR online)

Sharing audio recordings

1. Vocaroo

2. Record MP3 Online

3. Voki

Next steps

Record answers to golden questions in pairs for use now/later on with your KS4 students.

Integrate a role play card or photo card into your planning with appropriate scaffolding; get students to feedback with their spoken work on Flipgrid, Vocaroo, Record MP3 online, QWIKR conversations, etc Look for opportunities in your SoW.

Have a look at some of the assessment materials for speaking on AQA/Pearson; review criteria and go through further examples in your MFL 1, possibly MFL2.

Look for models of good examples given by AQA/Pearson so you know WAGOLL.

Look at Teachitlanguages website for further ideas on GCSE speaking tasks

Ask your mentor how the department prepares students for conversation questions – magpie good ideas!

Have a look at exam reports from 2018-2019 – key issues drawn out here.