Chapter 5: Speaking Skills

Speaking Tips

The key to the Speaking section is to address the prompt directly and completely.
- Therefore it is extremely important to listen to the prompt carefully and understand exactly what the requirements are.
To “be fluent” does not mean that students have to speak at a fast pace.
- It means that the pace should be steady and the flow should be smooth.
- Students should aim to speak at a natural rate of speech.
- Words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs should be connected in a logical way.
- If students can respond appropriately with minimum hesitation, they are likely to receive a high score.
- If students don’t know how to answer a certain question, they should at least address the prompt or topic in a general sense.
Students should prepare themselves with as much vocabulary as possible on theme topics.
- For example, if students are to talk about the Mid-Autumn Festival, it helps to know words like “⽉饼” and “团圆”.
- If they are planning an event for a trip, it helps to know words like “景点” and “⾏程.” If students don’t know enough vocabulary, their speaking responses will likely be compromised.
- We can’t emphasize enough how important it is for students to use appropriate words and phrases to express what they need to say correctly.
- Incorporating a couple of idioms and/or proverbs enhances the overall impression.
Students should pay attention to grammar.
- The grammar and linguistic structures that students use to communicate should be accurate.
- If students do not have good syntactic control, it will be very difficult for them to communicate effectively.
If students are not native Mandarin Chinese speakers, it is likely that they will have an accent when speaking Mandarin, but their speech should still be understandable.
- If students have trouble pronouncing certain words in Chinese, they should practice these words often.
- For example, if they cannot pronounce the third tones, they should find methods to fix their pronunciation.

Vocabulary Tips

Reading is the best way to learn vocabulary.
- Reading a variety of materials not only helps with learning new words and phrases, but also improves language skills overall.
Make sentences while learning a new word. Using a new word in sentences will help students memorize the meaning and usage of the word.
Apply new words as much as possible in daily life.
Study radicals. Learning just one radical often helps students understand many new words.
Expand vocabulary by learning synonyms and antonyms.
- This is very effective for memorizing new words.

Speaking Preparations

Conversation

Students are expected to:
- address the prompt directly, appropriately, and thoroughly
- keep a natural pace and avoid stumbling
- demonstrate accurate pronunciation and tones
- use a wide range of grammatical structures, vocabulary, and idioms
Students should:
- Understand the prompt without having to translate it in their heads.
- Include as much information pertaining to the prompt as they can.
- Avoid any silent moments while responding to the prompt, as silence may indicate that they do not understand the prompt or they lack the words to express themselves.
- Talk about one word that they do understand if they fail to understand the prompt.
- Delivering an incomplete answer is much better than saying, “I don’t understand,” or leaving the recording blank.
- Keep in mind that their response to the topic should not be too brief.
- Responding to the prompt means providing enough information to show they can carry on a conversation with someone.
- Forget about being truthful in the response.
- The purpose of the question is to elicit a speech sample in Chinese.
- Sometimes, there might not be an absolute correct or incorrect answer.
- Saying something in Chinese, instead of keeping silent, is highly recommended.
- Correct any mistake right away if recognized.
- Practice having spontaneous conversations for added fluency.

Sample Questions

你学中⽂学了多⻓时间？
你为什么学中⽂？
你们的中⽂⽼师是美国⼈还是中国⼈？
在学习中⽂过程中，你觉得最有意思的事情是什么？
你在学习中最⼤的困难是什么？
你⾼中毕业以后还学中⽂吗？

Presentation

Qualities of Good Presentation

Captivating
- To successfully intrigue the audience, students should keep their descriptions and explanations crisp, clear, and adequately detailed.
- They should be sure to quote relevant facts and examples to support their ideas.
- The topic prompt typically includes cultural requirements.
- Students should pay close attention to the requirements and present the related cultural content in a comprehensible manner.
Purposeful
- Students should practice stating the purpose, scope, and objectives of the presentation in a clear, concise manner.
- They should consider how to organize the presentation, including length, key ideas, transitions, and any related stories, including both qualitative and quantitative facts.
- Students will be given only 2 minutes to record their presentations.
- Prior to taking the test, they should practice using the time wisely to deliver a well-stated and purposeful presentation.
Organized
- Students are encouraged to make their presentations well-- organized and coherent, develop clear ideas, and use appropriate transitional words and phrases.
- Both this chapter and the Writing Skills chapter provide lists of frequently used Chinese transition words and phrases.
- During the presentation, the structure should be apparent to the listener.
Cultural
- When addressing the requirements for the Cultural Presentation, students will be able to choose a specific aspect based on a very broad prompt.
- They should be sure that any cultural information included in their presentations is accurate.
- It is highly advised that they pick a main focus that they are confident with and know well.
Appropriate
- Students should look for clues in the prompt, especially if the prompt seems to be asking something that they know nothing about.
- Students should leverage these clues to address the topic and express their own opinions on it. Remember: Don’t give up.
Accurate
- During the presentation, students should use language that is accurate, concise but meaningful, diverse, and easy to understand.
- When preparing for oral presentations, students need to shift their communication style from written to spoken.

Parts of the Presentation

The introduction is the most important part of the presentation; it consists of a greeting and a thesis.
- Students should include an appropriate greeting and a thesis that captures the audience’s attention.
- A good introduction will notify the audience of the topic right away and stimulate their curiosity about the topic.
The main body of the presentation has to be coherent.
- It should contain sufficient transitions for the audience to distinguish what is primary information and what is secondary.
The conclusion should be short.
- It should restate the main points and also what the student wants the audience to walk away with.
- A conclusion may include recommendations; for example, if the presentation is about a famous author, recommend one of his/her books.

Common Opening Remarks

我想谈谈…
- I’m going to talk about…
我演讲的题⽬是…
- The title of my presentation is…
我谈话的主题是…
- The topic of my talk is…
我想借这个机会给⼤家简单介绍⼀下…
- I’d like to take this opportunity to give you an overview of …

Main Body and Summary/Conclusion Phrases

我演讲的内容分为三个部分 ➡ I’ve divided my talk into (three) parts.
我将从三个⽅⾯谈谈 ➡ I’m going to divide my talk into three parts to talk about …
⾸先 ➡ First
其次 ➡ Second
第三 ➡ Third
最后 ➡ Finally
在第⼀部分 ➡ In the first part
在第⼆部分 ➡ Then, in the second part
下⾯，我谈谈第⼀个部分 ➡ Let’s move to the first part of my talk, which is about …
最后，我再强调⼀下我的要点 ➡ I’d like to end by emphasizing the main points.
我想⽤…来结束我的演讲 ➡ I’d like to end with…

Cultural Presentation Sample

各位同学: 你们好！

我演讲的题⽬是“孟姜⼥哭⻓城”。秦朝时候，有⼀个善良、美丽的⼥孩⼦叫孟姜⼥。孟姜⼥喜欢⼀个叫范喜良的⼩伙⼦。他们两⼈情投意合，不久就结婚了。结婚那天，来了很多客⼈。到了晚上，喝喜酒的⼈都⾛了，新郎、新娘也要⼊洞房了。突然来了⼏个当兵的，把范喜良抓⾛去修⻓城。从那以后，孟姜⼥⼀个⼈守在空空的房⼦⾥思念丈夫。后来，孟姜⼥背上⾏装，带上吃的，找到了⻓城⼯地。在⼯地上，她没有找到丈夫，却碰到了⼀个⽼乡。⽼乡告诉她，范喜良已经死了，⼫体已经埋在了⻓城的下⾯。听到这个消息，孟姜⼥⼤哭起来。她哭啊，哭啊，哭得天昏地暗。突然，听到“哗啦”⼀声，⻓城倒了，范喜良的⼫体露出来。孟姜⼥终于⻅到了⼼爱的丈夫，但丈夫却永远也看不到妻⼦了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。这个故事告诉我们，虽然⻓城是⼈类最伟⼤的⼯程之⼀，是中华⺠族的骄傲，但是，⻓城也凝聚着中国古代劳动⼈⺠的⾎与汗。我的故事讲完了，谢谢⼤家！

Speaking Practice Pointers

Do jot down idea words and phrases, but do not write out a whole presentation before recording.
Do not translate. Some students may be tempted to first compose the presentation in English and then translate it into Chinese. This is not recommended.
Do learn as much vocabulary as possible to cover as many topics as possible.
Do use the best vocabulary/idioms possible.
Do correct a mistake immediately.
Do practice recording presentations with a variety of topics before taking the exam.