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.