Format

The candidate holds a conversation with the examiner. Time : 5 minutes.

There are four phases to the conversation:

Greetings The examiner says hello and tries to put the candidate at ease.

Instructions The examiner gives a few simple instructions which the candidate carries out.

Questions The examiner asks a few questions related to the subject areas listed opposite.

Leave-taking The examiner brings the conversation to an end by wishing the candidate goodbye.

Candidate performance

The candidate is expected to

• exchange greetings with the examiner

• understand simple instructions and requests, and show understanding through appropriate actions

or the production of appropriate spoken responses or phrases

• give very short, even single-word, answers to simple closed questions and requests for information

• identify and name colours, parts of the body, numbers, items of clothing and objects in the

immediate surroundings.

Grammatical items

• Understanding and using the present simple tense of to be and other common verbs such as go ,

show , point , come , give , sit down , stand up

• Imperatives (to which candidates should respond)

• Nouns in singular and plural

• Adjectives (including possessives)

• Articles

• Pronouns

• Demonstratives

Subject areas for conversation

• Personal information

• Immediate surroundings

• Items of clothing

• Parts of the body

• Numbers up to 20

• Colours

Candidates should be able to make use of a range of vocabulary items relating to the above subject

areas.

Maximum use will be made of flash cards, photos, pictures, objects in the room or other objects which

the examiner may have brought.

Examiner and candidate language

The sample exchanges below show some ways in which examiners and candidates might express

themselves during the conversation. It is stressed that these are only examples.

Examiner Candidate

Hello! How are you today? Hello! I’m fine, thank you.

Stand up please. ( candidate stands up )

Walk to the window. ( candidate walks to the window )

Touch the window. ( candidate touches the window )

Come back to your chair. ( candidate comes back to the chair )

Now sit down, please. ( candidate sits down )

What colour is that? Green

And this one? Brown

How many pencils are there? One, two, three …

Give me the blue pencil. ( candidate gives examiner the blue pencil )

What’s this? (Your) nose/hand/mouth …

Show me your ears. ( candidate indicates his / her ears )

Look at me. I have …

a white shirt

grey trousers

black shoes

blue socks.

What about you? (I have a) red shirt

green trousers …