Spanish 101: Oral Exam Format

Please, schedule your oral interviews for Wednesday and Thursday, March 21 and
22nd. The Oral Interview covers material from chapter 1 through 5. On Wednesday, April 4th,
answer students’ questions about the material for the exam. Thursday, April 5th is the exam.
It will cover material from both chapter 5 and chapter 6.
Please, remind your students that, on March 21 and 22, you will not have a lecture and
that they only need to come to their scheduled interview.

How to prepare your students:

For the first part of the interview, give the students 5 different situations to choose from and
have them prepare one of these situations for the oral exam. (For example, describe what you do
for fun, how you organize a family trip, etc…)
For the second part, ask the students to randomly (without looking) pick a slip of paper and talk
on the spot about the situation described in the paper. (For example, one is a father or a mother
and the other a son or a daughter, or you are two students who talk about their classes, etc…)

What you can tell your students:

Spanish 101: Oral Exam Format

Oral exams are coming up soon. Within the next few days, I will ask you to sign up for a time
slot of 10 minutes. You will be tested in pairs. Please, make sure to arrive 5 minutes before your
interview.

The oral exam has two main parts. First, before Spring Break, you will be asked to choose a
situation and prepare it for the interview. (For example, listing what you do for fun, organizing a
family trip, etc…). You and your partner will be required to talk about it for five minutes. Try to
stay in your area of familiarity (vocabulary and structures you have learned).

Next, I will ask you to improvise a similar dialogue about a new situation (introductions, family
description, hobbies, what you like to do in your free-time or during Spring Break). You will
have heard these questions a number of times in class over the course of the semester and should
come up with ideas on the spot. You will also have five minutes.

In order to prepare for your oral exam, it would be a good idea for you and your partner to meet
and practice. Also, you both could meet with other classmates to practice speaking. Speak as
much Spanish as you can and make sure you are familiar with themes that we have covered this
semester. You may also wish to make a list of various questions that you think I, your instructor,
might ask you in the second part of the interview. If time allows, I may also arrange for specific
class-time to prepare for the oral exam. As always, make use of regular class time to practice
speaking Spanish as much as you can.

Your grade will be based on the following:

Intelligibility, Fluency/flow of speech, Listening Comprehension
Vocabulary, Content, Structures

101 Themes
Greetings and introductions (Introducciones)
University and campus life (La vida universitaria)
Family and friends (La familia y los amigos)
Rest and recreation (Los pasatiempos)
Vacations and travels (Las vacaciones y los viajes)
La tertulia (Fridays from 10:00 to 11:00 in SC 131) offers another opportunity to practice
speaking Spanish.

m. (f. i., describing a favorite past-time, telling how many classes you take, listing family
members, giving their age, saying where they live, etc…)

For the second part, ask the studen