Chinese Oral examinations are very important to every candidate aka you or your children as it is 25% of the Results. And it is spoken so most will score high for this paper. However, there are some things to note if you want to Ace this examination.
Step 1: The 10 minutes of preparation
When you sit in front of the laptop watching the slide on the recitation passage and the video, most just do whatever they are taught to do and they will miss out on a lot of details which is important to you!
3 little steps to do prepare for recitation:
1) Read the passage once slowly and fill in all the words you don’t know with some words that sound right.
2) Now, read the passage quickly and make sure you do not stop at all. practice this until you sounded confidence and reads non stop.
3) Lastly memorize the first line so that you could look at the eyes of the examiners while you are on the first line, this will show the examiners that you are prepared.
3 little steps to prepare for Video conversation:
1) listen and memorise the Verse at the first 15 seconds of the video. Make sure you know the meaning of that verse. If you need to, rewind and listen to it until you get it. This verse is very important as it is the theme of the eOral examination. You do not want to miss this verse.
2) Then as you watch the video you should find that the video is actually separated by scenes that shows the some theme. Study each scenes carefully and rewatch to make sure you catch the story line. every action and object you see in the scene, you should be able to name them in Chinese……….well if you cannot use Chinese for some, just find the most familiar name or a generic name that you can find in Chinese. Make sure you can describe a scene very vividly with wonderful vocabulary for best results.
3) The 3 questions are very easy,
question 1 ask you are details in one of the scenes.
question 2 ask you if anyone you seen/heard had done such acts?
question 3 ask you how institutions such as school/community/family could encourage such acts?
Step 2 Waiting Area, that would be the another time waster but we are going to sit there and do mental exercises memorising the video details and answering the questions in our minds. Do not waste time idling at the waiting room.
Step 3 Greet your teachers and ask for permission to seat! and sit gracefully with hand on table. (unless you forgot your video, you have 1 last chance to watch video again NOW.)
Step 4 answer whatever questions teachers asked politely. DO not rush it, smile if possible.
Do not play with your hands or look everywhere, stay focus and if you can look at teachers.
Lastly here are the past year questions for you reference
PSLE 2016
Day 1 公德心
问题：你在公共场所有没有看到别人没有公德心的行为？
Day 2
PSLE 2017
Day 1 关心朋友
问题：你和同学即将毕业，你还会和他们联系／保持联络吗？
Day 2 邻居
PSLE 2018
Day 1 帮助同学
问题：你希望同学怎样帮助你？
Day 2 图书馆遵守规则
问题：你的图书馆有什么规则？
PSLE 2019
Day 1 户外学习
问题1 你喜欢录像中的学习方式吗?为什么?
问题 2 你有上过好玩有趣的课吗?
问题 3 除了课堂学习，你还可以做什么来取得新知识？
Day 2 环保
问题1: 你和你的家人是如何保持环境清洁的？
问题2: 你认为保持环境清洁是清洁工人的责任吗？你是否同意这个说法。
问题3：你觉得环保重要吗？为什么？
PSLE 2020
Day 1 做好事（帮助有需要的人）
Day 2 注意安全（公路安全）
PSLE 2021
Day 1 收拾房间 — 责任感（个人）
video shows a kid tidying up the room, child got scolded/reminded of the right thing to do by mother
责任感/为自己的行为负责。做个懂事的孩子
tidy one’s room and how to prevent having to find misplaced items
Day 2 节省用水
-冲凉中，用肥皂时，要关水龙头
-用洗米的水来浇花。
-冲凉不要超过五分钟
PSLE 2022 8月15-16日
Day 1
Day 2
The past topic are from my memories and so they are just a reference for your study. Some are incomplete as I just started to collect those and I did not asked all the necessary questions. Now I know the first questions and following related questions are important to note too.
NOTE: 转向题 : what are they? they are impromptu questions that seeks to clarify and help students to express their views correctly. They help teacher gauge students ability but they themselves are like guiding questions. Just answer them and you are fine.
Good luck all for your Chinese Language Oral Examinations!