Exam topics and criteria for assessment
Speaking problems
2. Local issues: litter, air quality, public transport, road safety, noise levels, green spaces
3. Phobias in people’s life: types, causes, prevention
4. Crowd control and human behaviour in emergencies
5. Modern dietary trends
6. Conventional vs alternative medicine: pros and cons
7. Mind blowing technologies of the present and the future
8. Technological advances of the modern world: changes in communication
Useful language
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Idioms
to live it up to learn to live with to live up to sb's expectations to live down to live through to live by one’s wits
Prepositional phrases
at the height of its power to come under fire against the backdrop on the wane into the bargain at an all-time low in the limelight under the auspices of at risk on a shoestring at great pains in light of to get sth under one’s belt
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Language to express personal views on sth
I would definitely agree that… It would be infinitely preferable to… Having said that… It is also true that… It is vitally important that… It serves no purpose whatsoever having… It will never be possible to… There is no evidence of… What we do need is… I'm totally convinced that… You can't deny that… It's absolutely clear to me that… It is a question of individual responsibility. The key issue for me is… What I'm trying to say is … What I have in mind is … In other words, … Because/Since … My reason for saying that is … It's hard to fathom…
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Language to express personal views on health and lifestyle
get a life the life and soul of the party to have a life of its own life’s too short not on your life that’s life to frighten the life out of sb for the life of me the light of your life a new lease of life My take on it is completely different.
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Expressions connected with illness and injury
writer’s cramp a sprained ankle a torn ligament eye strain a splitting headache an ear infection a slipped disc tennis elbow |
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Collocations
bring about an effect suffer from an effect draw up / establish / lay down a rule abide by a rule yield an answer elicit a comment withdraw a remark take no notice of a remark obviate the need toy with an idea think up an idea pinpoint a reason
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Phrasal verbs
to draw inspiration from to balk at the idea to dwell on to cave in to sth to catch up on sth to be cut out for to play down sth to jump at the chance to thrash sth out to write off |
Key criteria for assessment of SPEAKING
Grammatical resource:
· Apply grammar rules and arrange words accurately when speaking;
· Use a wide range of grammatical forms appropriately and competently.
Lexical resource:
· Use an appropriate range of vocabulary;
· Make use of the recommended words, word combinations, phrases, idioms;
· Communicate precise meanings, attitudes and opinions and be able to express ideas which are theoretical and abstract.
Discourse management:
· Link utterances together to form a logical monologue and make contributions to a dialogue without undue hesitation;
· Be relevant and relate to previous utterances in the discourse.
Pronunciation:
· Produce intelligible utterances, this includes stress, intonation and individual sounds.
Interactive communication:
· Take part effectively in keeping the conversation moving dynamically;
· Initiate and reply appropriately on a variety of questions.
