Preparing for the examination Recommendations to teachers Oral Examination

• Teachers should put emphasis on oral communication from First Year on and use German as the everyday classroom language in a creative and engaging way.
• Teachers should encourage the use of idiomatic language but discourage the use of too many Redewendungen as conversation can sound unnatural and less authentic. Teachers should work on pronunciation with their students.
• Teachers should link the oral topics thematically with other topics in the year plan so that students will recognise a single unit rather than a separate piece of work for the oral examination.
• Teachers should encourage students to elaborate on answers and discourage very brief answers, while ensuring that students avoid an unnecessarily long narration in the picture sequence or project sections.
• Teachers should encourage students to opt to speak about a film or a literary text in the General Conversation section and encourage them to prepare it well – keeping it short and simple while avoiding rote learning of difficult sentences. Teachers should encourage students to be prepared for some obvious questions such as Wie endet der Film? Was gefällt Ihnen an diesem Film?
• Teachers should ensure that students doing projects are prepared for follow-up questions.
• Teachers should start preparing the role-plays and picture stories with students early in Fifth Year. Teachers should encourage students to make up questions for the picture sequence/project/role play sections – perhaps as a Gruppenarbeit exercise and practise manipulation of language on the Role Play cards and encourage them to listen to the examiner.
• Teachers should ensure students are familiar with the Sie form of verb i.e. that it can also be a way of addressing the students themselves.
• Teachers should practice the use of Fragewörter, the past tense and they should help students expand their knowledge of different adjectives. Aural and Written Paper
• Teachers should use German as much as possible in class.
• Teachers should practise the use of interrogatives, pronouns and possessive adjectives, the Imperfect/Perfect Tenses, the Passive Voice, the Subjunctive mood especially the Conditional, separable verbs (to avoid errors such as: sie sehen glücklich and das hört gut).
• Teachers should practise the plural forms of common words with their students. (Lehrern and Freunden are very often used).
• Teachers should emphasise word-order and verb endings in the various tenses.
• Teachers should emphasise the necessity to read the questions on the examination paper carefully and the necessity to manipulate the German when answering questions in the Reading Comprehensions.
• Teachers should draw students’ attention to interference from English/ Irish:
• I am going – ich bin gehen;
• to become – bekommen;
• you are right – du bist Recht;
• that’s a pity – Das ist eine Schade; § I will – ich will etc.
• Irish: one hour – eine Uhr

 Recommendations to students Oral Examination

• Students should speak and listen to as much German as possible in and out of class, practising speaking out loud, especially words that are difficult to pronounce. There are many opportunities online – some examiners recommend “voki.com”
• Students should record themselves on their mobile phones to make sure what they say is correct.
• Students should download German apps, watch/listen to German internet sources, TV, radio, music.
• Students should learn and use idiomatic phrases and avoid learning meaningless phrases off by heart – context is key!
• Students should practise tenses regularly by talking about everyday activities and be familiar with question words: Wie, Warum, Wann, Woher etc.
• If students opt for the project they should select a topic of interest and one on which they will be able to answer questions.
• Students should begin preparation early, focussing on oral work from First Year and using the two years before the Oral examination to become familiar with the tasks on the Role-Play cards. Students should remember that preparation is key and it takes time to become proficient in spoken language.
• Students should remember that short, correct sentences are better than long, inaccurate ones.
• Students should learn the German alphabet and be able to spell, for example, their name in German.
• If students decide to talk about a film or literary text, they should keep the account short, speak distinctly and be prepared to answer a few questions on it.
• Students should take their teacher’s advice and get a separate folder to keep all the oral materials together.

Aural and Written Paper

• Students should speak and listen to as much German as possible: Internet, CDs, German films, TV Channels such as Deutsche Welle, Spiegel, Tagesschau.
• Students should practise basic, common verbs (including modal verbs) in the present, future and past tenses. The inability to use common verbs correctly often results in a loss of marks in expression and this can be avoided by repetition and practice.
• Students should practise their writing skills and focus on the basics first: correct use of capital letters, spelling, simple but accurate wording and phrasing in order to improve the overall accuracy of their written German. Some students especially at Ordinary Level showed a lack of vocabulary when they needed to use basic verbs such as to visit, to travel, to meet, to book etc. Knowledge of these basics would enhance students’ marks significantly by avoiding common mistakes in expression e.g. use of stehen for bleiben/wohnen, also for auch, confusion of Freund/Freundin, der ist for es gibt, will for wird etc.
• Students should practise the use of pronouns in the different cases.
• Students should learn different phrases to express opinion (Ich bin der Meinung, dass…; Meiner Meinung nach ist das nicht richtig…; An deiner Stelle würde ich das nicht machen)
• Students should continue the good progress which has been made in the aural section where they have shown increased proficiency with number recognition.
• Students should work on building up their bank of vocabulary as a way of improving in both the listening and reading comprehension sections.
• Students should practice the use of interrogatives and the formation of questions.
• Students should go through previous Marking Schemes

In the examination Oral Examination

• Candidates should be prepared for the challenge and be able to expand on topics. If candidates choose to do a project, they should expect follow-up questions and be prepared.
• Candidates should avoid Ja/ Nein answers and try to give full answers.
• Candidates should slow down when speaking, especially in the story-telling and project presentations as examiners must hear and understand what is said.
• If a candidate has been to a German-speaking country, it might be useful to use some aspect of the trip as a project.
• Candidates should not read from the role-play script, but rather use it as a guide having the questions/answers prepared.
• Candidates should try not to be over-anxious in advance of and during the examination as it affects performance. The examiner is just human too! Aural and Written Paper
• Candidates should remember to manipulate the German in the German-language answers.
• Candidates should pay special attention to verbs: position in sentence, endings, tenses, modal verbs, passive voice, and conditional tense.
• Candidates should answer all comprehension questions in detail.
• Candidates should try to stay within the guidelines for the length of essays and letters.
• Candidates should use idioms/Redewendungen judiciously.
• Candidates should allow time to read back over work especially the Letter/Essay.
• Candidates should not use pencil in examinations.