ORAL carries a weightage of 15% of the PSLE English examination.

Oral components

• Reading Aloud (10 marks)

• Picture Discussion (10 marks)

• Conversation (10 marks)

Guidelines for Reading

1. Read the text throgh silently to determine the text type. For stories, read expressively. For exposition, read authoritatively and for advertisements, read in a light-hearted and engaging manner.
2. Read aloud to yourself at least twice during the silent reading time before entering the examination room. This helps to reduce word recognition errors and increases expression and fluency.
3. Bring your voice down at the end of a sentence. Keep your voice up when there is a question mark.
4. Read lou enough for the examiners to hear you.
5. Read fluently, with appropriate pauses and without hesitation.
6. Some common errors in pronunciation : mother not mader, thing nor ting, time not tam, however not howrever
7. Pay attention to word endings. Do not drop them. collect, watched, just, loves, took.
8. Do not rush through the passage. Read clearly and calmly. If you trip over a word, just read it again.
9. For words you cannot pronounce, settle on one pronunciation and stick to it.
10. Do not point at the words with your finger as you read. If you need to keep track of what you read, place your finger at the edge of the paper and move it down the page as you read.

Guidelines for Picture Discussion

1. Describe the SETTING, action and people. Eg : Five children are performing on the stage. One of the performers dropped his musical instrument. In the front row of the audince, a man is tanding up and he looks anxious.
2. Interpret with your one OPINION. Eg This man is probably the boy’s father. From his gestures, he seemed to be giving words of encouragement to his son.
3. EXPLAIN further. Eg Given the situation, I am sure any parent would be anxious. If I were the boy’s father, I would be anxious too.
4. Do not say, “I finish” at the end of your task. Give a short wrap-up to the discussion. Eg: Withe the encouragement given by the father, I think the boy will pick up his trumpet and carry on with his performance.
5. In your discussion, use the PRESENT TENSE. Use past tense only when you cite past incidences or experiences.
6. Do not point at the details in the picture with your finger. Use suitable phrases to describe their location.
7. Suggested expressions to show tentativeness of observations. Eg probably, likely, perhaps, possibly, could be, maybe, seems, looks as if, looks like.
8. Suggested expressions to introduce ideas when intepreting and explianing. Eg I believe, I wonder why, It is likely that, This may lead to, I imagined that, I think I would, I can almost, This may cause, If I were.

Conversation

1. Do not look down. Establish eye contact with the examiner.
2. Listen carefully to the question asked. Respond relevantly and appropriately.
3. Speak in complete sentences. Do not use slang.
4. Do not stop at “Yes” or “No” in your answers. Elaborate on your responses wthout prompting from the examiners.
5. Smile and show interest. Respons enthusaitically. Eg: Yes, I would like to …, In Fact, I have just …..
6. When in doubt, clarify by asking, Could you please repeat your question?
7. Use dialogue fillers such as “Well….”, when you need time to process your thoughs.
8. If you are given a topic you know nothing about, do not panic. Draw ideas from the picture stimulus to help elaborate on your points. Or think about how you can talk around the topic. Eg : No. I do not own a pet but my mom used to keep a pet dog ….
9. Conversation is not a test ho how much you know about a topic. It is to test your fleuncy in the spoken language. Interact with examiners and keep the converstaion alive by introducing ideas as you go along. Do not depend on examiners to promt you.

Download : Oral Examination score sheet for pratices

The mid year exams is just round the corner. I’ve prepared loads of materials to help my son who’s in P2, with his revisions. And to make mugging for exams as interesting as it permits, I searched extensively for  interesting websites, especially those with animations and interactive games. When I could not find the ideal materials, I made them myself!

I toiled through the night to compile a list of of past and present tense for irregular verbs. Next, I made flash cards – present tense on one side, past tense on the other. My son was elated when he saw the flash cards and that encouraged him to memorize most of the irregular verbs.

Download : Past-Present Tense for Irregular Verbs

Grammar drives me up the wall! Why is the comparative of light, light-er while expensive, not expendsiv-ier?

So I learnt – Verbs with more than 2 syllables, the comparative and Superlative forms do not follow the convention of adding er, instead, add more and most before the verb. Again, not without exceptions! Arrggggg!!!!

What is an adjective?

An adjective is a word that tells us more about a noun. I found this this website which arranged the comparative adjectives by groups such as feelings, size, time, shape, etc. Useful for writing stories (composition).

There are 3 ways to compare adjectives.

• Positive degree. The simplest form.
  When we do not compare a noun with another.
  Example : Amanda is tall.

• Comparative degree.
  When we are comparing [strictly]two nouns.
  Example : Amanda is taller than Belinda.
  *clue

• Superlative degree.
  When comparing more than two nouns.
  Example : Amanda is the tallest girl in class.
  *clue

.General Rules

• Add er and est
  Example : great, greater, greatest

• If adjective ends with y, change the y to ier and iest.
  Example : angry, angrier, angriest

• If adjective ends with e, add r and st.
  Example : fine, finer, finest

• For adjectives more than 2 syllables, use more, most before the adjective.
  Example : beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful

Exception

• big, bigger, biggest (Note: the last letter ‘g’ is repeated)

• bad, worse, worst (irregular verbs)

• perfect (incomparable adjectives)

In my opinion, it is worth the effort to memorize the exceptions. I have compiled a list which you can download and print.

Download : Comparative Adjective

Websites :

The Children’s University of Manchester. Gives a good summary of the topic. Includes interactive games.