The Age newspaper published on Monday, 5 September, their annual VCE exam guide for the end of year exams.
"Minding your own language" looks into the preparation for the written and oral exams which will take place in October and November. Although the article was written with the Italian language exams in mind, the given advise is relevant for other language studies like German.
To perform well at the oral examination students have to be thoroughly prepared for both the Conversation and the Discussion part (detailed study). In order to achieve excellent results the conversation topics should be thoroughly thought through.
Students should be able to adopt to questions which might be asked in a different way then anticipated. During the exam preparation time it is important to think about the many different ways a question might be asked and to explore different alleys how to respond.
If the question  is not clear the examiner should be asked (of course in German). It is therefor important to know how to formulate requests for clarification. It has no negative impact when the student asks to repeat a question or asks for clarification. Students should avoid at all costs to give irrelevant or inappropriate answers due to misunderstanding the examiner.
Students should avoid to learn answers to anticipated questions by heart. Natural speed and intonation are required, not stilted expressions. Monosyllabic answers should be avoided and when asked for their family students might talk about their family members rather then just naming them.
If you have further questions or require some extra tuition in order to prepare for your oral or written exams contact Sibylle from Language Excellence on 0431 666039 or send a mail to info@languageexcellence.net
If you missed out on Mondays paper you can order the issue:  http://education.theage.com.au/index.php
