This article provides examples of how to complete tasks. oral part (Speaking Part) of the USE 2016 in English. The article was written taking into account the changes that have occurred in the wording of task 3 (point 1 and point 4). I hope this material will help you in preparing for the exam.

Task 1

Imagine that you are preparing a project with your friend. You have found some interesting material for the presentation and you want to read this text to your friend. You have 1.5 minutes to read this text silently, then be ready to read it out aloud. You will not have more than 1.5 minutes to read it.

Burney Crouss went to school to study the sounds of nature. For 20 years he has recorded the sounds animals make. He has recordings of animal sounds from all over the world.
Burney has made a record of animal songs. It all began when he took some of the sounds and put them together. Last year, he put together a song he called "Jungle Shoes." It turned out great.

Burney makes the music by taking part of his animal noises and saving them on a computer. He makes each sound play when a key is pressed. Then he asks other musicians to play the keys into songs. Burney believes in working to save nature. He thinks that more people need to take care of our world. The sounds of nature are quickly disappearing.

When he recorded whales in Alaska, he could hear the sound of oil well drilling from fifteen to twenty miles away. It was very loud. He says his goal is to save nature sounds so his children will be able to hear them.

Listen to this audiofile

Audio: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or higher) is required to play this audio. Download the latest version. Also, JavaScript must be enabled in your browser.

Mind your pronunciation!

Cr ou ss, s ou n.d.l ou d-

B ur ney, t ur n, w or ld–[ɜ:]

to th ink-[θ]

toge th er - [ð]

Vocabulary

nature [´neitʃə] - nature

musician - musician, composer

key - key (piano, organ, computer keyboard)

to record - record, register

record [´rekɔ: d] - record

to disappear [ˏdisə´piə] - to disappear

goal [ɡəul] - goal, task

whale - whale

- Listen to the audio file attached to the text several times, paying attention to the intonation and phonetic design of the text by a native speaker.

Read the text, copying the intonation and pronunciation of words in English. Pay special attention lower intonation at the end of a sentence. I know from teaching experience that many students do not mark the end of a phrase with a descending tone, but, on the contrary, raise it, which makes it much more difficult to perceive the content.

- Do not forget that prepositions and articles should be read together with verbs and nouns.

Do not deafen voiced consonants at the end of a word, as this may change the lexical meaning of the word.

- In the process of preparing for the exam, learn new words (spelling + lexical meaning).

task 2

Study the advertisement.

You are considering booking a river trip and now you are calling to find out more information. In 1.5 minutes you are to ask five direct questions to find out about the following:

• Booking of the trip (booking a walk along the river)
• Boarding time (boarding time)
• Kinds of amenities (types of amenities on the ship)
• Reductions for senior citizens (discounts for pensioners)
• If food and drinks available on board the yacht (possibility of ordering food and drinks on board the yacht)

You have 20 seconds to ask each question.

sample answer

• how can I book the trip? / Can I book the trip on the phone? / I can book the trip on the phone, can't I? /Should I book the trip in advance? / Is there any possibility to book the trip online?
• What is the boarding time? / When does the boarding start (begin)?
• What amenities are there on board the yacht (the boat, the ship)?
• Are there any reductions (discounts) for senior citizens?
• Can we order (buy) any food and drinks on board the yacht?

amenities [ə´minətiz] - amenities

on board the ship (on board the plane) - on board the ship (airplane)

Since you need to ask 5 direct questions, you should know that interrogative structures in English use reverse word order. Not Maybe put a question only by changing the intonation of the sentence, as we do in Russian.

For example:

In russian language

I can order food and drinks on board the yacht. (statement, falling intonation)

I can order food and drinks on board the yacht? (question, rising intonation)

In English

I can order some food and drinks on board the yacht. (statement, descending intonation, direct word order: subject + predicate)

General issues

Can I order any food and drinks on board the yacht? (question, ascending intonation, reverse word order: auxiliary or modal verb + subject)

Special questions

How can I book the trip? (question, falling intonation, word order: interrogative word + auxiliary verb + subject)

In this task, you can not ask indirect questions like Do you thinkI can book the trip on the phone or I wonder if I can book the trip on the phone.

task 3

Imagine that these are photos from your photo album.

Choose one photo to present to your friend.

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3

You will have to start speaking in 1.5 minutes and will speak for not more than 2 minutes (12–15 sentences).In your talk remember to speak about:

• where and when the photo was taken
• what / who is in the photo
• what is happening
• why do you keep the photo in your album
• why did you decide to show the picture to your friend

You have to talk continuously, starting with:

"I"ve chosen photo number..."

sample answer

I"ve chosen photo number 2. (Be sure to start your answer with this phrase, after selecting the photo number).

You know, every summer we go to the seaside to have a good rest. So, I took this photo two years ago when our family went to Egypt on summer holidays. It was our first trip abroad.

In the foreground of the photo you can see my little brother Dmitry. He is riding a camel on a sandy beach. He looks very happy because he has never done it before. The camel is covered with bright colorful blanket made of wool. It also has got some funny pompons (decorations) on its head . The day is quite hot and sunny and there are no clouds in the sky. So, not to get sunburnt Dima is wearing a T-shirt.

The sea is very calm. You can notice several snow-white yachts (ships) against the skyline. Every day they take people for offshore excursions where one can watch dolphins and exotic species of fish.

As a rule, I always take a lot of pictures while traveling. I often show them to my friends and relatives to share the best and the most thrilling moments of our journeys. That's why I keep them in my album.

I was really astonished (impressed, struck) by a funny look of the camel. It seems to me that the animal has got a smiling face. I decided to show this picture to you because I think it might improve your mood. I hope you find it amazing, too.

That is all I wanted to say. (mandatory phrase for the examiner, indicating the completion of communication)

Task 4

Study the two photographs. In 1.5 minutes be ready to compare and contrast the photographs:

• give a brief description of the photos (action, location)
• say what the pictures have in common
• say in what way the pictures are different
• say which of the activities presented in the pictures you'd prefer
• explain why

Now I am going to compare and contrast these two photos.

To start with I should admit that holidays are an integral part of our life no matter where we live. And these two photos are the evidence of what I have said.

Both pictures show people celebrating Christmas.

The first photo depicts a company of six young people who are enjoying a holiday season on a sandy beach. They are wearing swimming suits, sunglasses and Santa's hats . I'm not sure but it seems to me that it is a team of life-guards. In the background of the picture you can see a decorated Christmas tree, a large inflatable snowman and Santa Claus.

As for the second picture it shows a young man and a young woman singing carols in the street which is beautifully decorated with lights. The weather is snowy and I guess it's pretty cold outside because they are wearing warm clothes, gloves and scarves. Even their dog has got a warm jacket and a scarf and what makes me think(I've got a feeling) that these people are very caring and love their pet very much.

As I have mentioned before the main similarity(the most obvious similarity) between these pictures is a festive atmosphere of Christmas. Also I get the impression that people in picture 1 and picture 2 are of the same age and look very joyful. moreover, both pictures were taken outdoors (out-of-doors / in the open air).

Comparing these two pictures, I'd like to stress out that the most apparent (striking) difference between them is the season of the year. In the first photo the event might be taking place somewhere in Australia because Christmas Day usually falls in the middle of the summer in this country. in contrast, in the second picture you can see people in winter. I can only guess that they are probably British. besides, picture no 1 was taken during the daytime, while picture No 2 was taken at night.

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The oral part of the exam in English is held separately from the written part on a specially designated day. Testing takes place without the participation of examiners: the answers are stored in a computer, then the experts listen to the recordings. The test consists of four tasks, each of which is issued after the completion of the previous one. The entire oral block is given 15 minutes, the time is calculated automatically - the timer is visible on the computer screen.

The structure of the oral part of the exam

Task number 1

The examinee is asked to read aloud a popular science text, which consists of 150-160 words. You have 1.5 minutes to prepare and answer. The text should be spoken at medium speed, without long pauses, loudly and clearly. A test participant can make up to five phonetic errors, among which no more than one or two are allowed, distorting the meaning of words. The maximum for completing the first task is 1 point.

Even if not all the vocabulary is familiar, there is no need to panic - there is simply no time for this. It is more productive to remember the general rules of reading and pronounce the word according to the standard phonetic model - with a probability of 99.9% you will guess correctly.

The article may contain unfamiliar exception words with a difficult pronunciation. You should not be afraid - it is unlikely that there will be more than five of them, which means that there is a chance not to exceed the limit of errors.

Possible difficulties: Most students make mistakes due to lack of concentration. Difficulties are also caused by a rather high reading speed, which is required to meet one and a half minutes. To practice, while preparing for the oral part of the exam with a stopwatch in your hands, read texts of 150-160 words, make notes on a voice recorder / smartphone, then listen to them and critically evaluate your results.

Task number 2

The examinee is invited to ask five questions in one and a half minutes on the topic of an advertisement about travel, sports events, etc. There is no need to think of what to ask: the task is given keywords, with each of them it is necessary to make a question that correlates with the image and the indicated theme. For a grammatically correct question, one point is given, respectively, for the entire second task, you can get a maximum of 5.

To cope with the task, brush up on the rules for composing direct questions - this is the type that should be used when completing it.

Possible difficulties: there is a risk of making a question, the answer to which will be uninformative. The task of the examiner is to obtain specific information on the topic of the ad (how much does it cost? Where is it located? Etc.). Based on it, you need to formulate questions.

Task number 3

Description of photographs. There are three pictures with a similar theme to choose from, you need to describe one of them strictly according to the provided plan:

• When the picture was taken.
• Who is in the photo.
• What is happening in the picture.
• Why/why did you take this photo?
• Why did you decide to show the photo to your friend.

1.5 minutes are given to prepare the answer, 2 minutes to voice it. For each item of the plan, you need to come up with at least three sentences (the description for the maximum rating should consist of 12-15 phrases). If all requirements are met, the examinee can earn 7 points.

Possible difficulties: You should get a coherent story with an introductory and concluding phrase. They can be quite simple (like "look at this picture from my photo album"), but their presence in the description is mandatory. Therefore, prepare in advance universal introductory and connecting structures and memorize them to automatism.

And do not forget to name the number of the image you are describing and click on the corresponding number in the green box below the image.

Otherwise, it will turn out as if you mixed up the answer fields in the forms during a written exam - no one will understand.

Task number 4

Photo comparison. A participant in the oral part of the exam in English is offered two, at first glance, completely different pictures. For example, one photo may show a child in a summer meadow, another may show children enthusiastically building a snowman. The task of the examiner is to quickly find what nevertheless unites the proposed images, and based on the "common link" to compare two photographs. The answer should be built strictly according to the task plan, for each item of which you need to come up with at least three sentences.

To get the maximum 7 points, you need to make a logical, complete statement that reflects all five aspects of the plan.

Possible difficulties: It's hard to understand what to talk about. The problem is solved simply: the hint is always contained in the fourth paragraph of the plan. For example, if it says: say which of the seasons presented in the pictures you preferred as a child (to the task with photographs of children in the meadow and with a snowman), then the keyword child will serve as a guide, and you need to talk about what you liked as a child more: winter or summer and why.

It is clear that these photographs with a playing jazz band and a young pianist have one thing in common - music, the difference is its style. In which direction to move for comparison, point number 4 in the plan will tell. Tell us what you like more: classical and Beethoven or improvisation and Louis Armstrong. This will be the reason for choosing the type of concert.

13.01.2018

• General information about the oral part of the exam in English.
• Tips for preparing for each part.
• Task examples.

Speaking at the exam - general information

The oral part of the exam consists of several different tasks - tasks 41 - 44.

• Task 41. Reading text aloud
• Task 42. Conditional dialogue-questioning
• Task 43. Connected thematic monologue statement using the main communicative types of speech (description, narration, reasoning)
• Task 44. A connected thematic monologue statement - the transfer of the main content of what was seen with the expression of one's attitude, assessment, argumentation (comparison of two photographs)

The maximum number of points that you can score for the oral part in English on the exam is 20 points.

1 point for reading, 5 points for dialogue and 7 points for each oral statement.

Difficulty levels tasks in the oral part: basic for the first three and high for the last.

General lead time oral part of the work - 15 min.

Tips for preparing for each of the oral assignments for the exam.

The oral part of the exam has a computerized form, so you can’t influence the time in any way. You will be given exactly as much as is determined by the program limit, therefore, even if you are ready to talk a lot and for a long time, you will have to speak exclusively on the merits. During the answer, you will also not have the opportunity to make written notes - the speech should be spontaneous.

Necessarily At the end of the exam, listen to your answer in full. If, for some technical reason, all or part of the answer was not recorded, you can retake the oral part of the exam.

Be sure to familiarize yourself with the interface of the program for the oral part of the exam. You can do it here - http://injaz.ege.edu.ru/. Practice, learn to control the time of oral speech.

TASK 41 - READING THE TEXT ALOUD

You will have 1.5 minutes to prepare and exactly the same amount to read the texts. Don't worry, this time will be enough for you. Below in the article are exemplary texts for reading on the oral part of the exam.

Try to pronounce all words correctly, and be sure to observe intonation. While preparing, look for question marks or exclamation marks in the text. Pause with commas and periods.

Emphasize important words that carry more meaning with intonation.

Don't worry if you make a mistake in pronunciation while reading. In order to get 1 point (maximum) for this task, you need to make no more than 5 phonetic errors, with no more than 2 gross ones. Gross errors are such errors that prevent the understanding of the word.

TASK 42 - CONDITIONAL DIALOGUE QUESTION

In this task, you will need to respond to what is happening, ask questions. Yes Yes! It is important to be able to ask questions here. So be sure to repeat all types of questions, and especially special questions, because basically, you will be asking them. You will need to ask 5 questions, each of which will be worth 1 point. In order to get this score, you need to compose the question grammatically correctly.

Do not try to make the question rich in lexical terms - this will not be additionally appreciated. Do not be smart - do everything simply and confidently. It is perfectly acceptable to use the same type of questions.

Remember that the person who checks your questions will check the last one. Therefore, if you made a mistake, you can ask the question again, correcting it.

TASK 3 - THEMATIC MONOLOGICAL STATEMENT

You will need to choose one of three personal photographs and describe it according to the proposed plan. 1.5 minutes are given for preparation, the answer should consist of 12 - 15 sentences and take no more than 2 minutes.

What is important to get the maximum score?

• 1 - solve a communicative task (that is, tell what is required in the plan). If you do not solve the communicative task, then no matter how well you speak, you will still get 0 points for this USE task.
• 2 - use at least 12 phrases (3 points are given for this)
• 3 - be sure to make an introduction and conclusion (2 points)
• 4 - make a minimum of mistakes (2 points)

Try to strictly follow the plan proposed to you.

The answer should begin with the phrase I've chosen photo number..., as it will be indicated in the assignment, but this phrase will not be considered introductory.

Examples of introductory phrases:

• I'd like to show you a picture from my photo album.
• Would you like to have a look at this picture?

Closing phrase examples:

• I hope you liked my picture.
• I guess that's all I can tell you about this photo.

To some extent, you can prepare at home. Think about how to tell where and when the picture was taken, why you decided to take the picture, why you decided to show this particular photo.

In a story about a photograph, you cannot do without the use of expressions thereis /thereare- so be sure to repeat this rule.

Also repeat the Present Continuous time, you can hardly do without using it.

Use phrases:

• the picture,
• in the background
• in the foreground,
• to the left/right,
• in the center
• to take a picture

BE SURE TO USE PICTURE SYNONYMS (SHOT, PHOTO, PHOTOGRAPH).

TASK 4 - THEMATIC MONOLOGICAL STATEMENT

When completing this task, you will need to compare 2 photographs (pictures) according to the proposed plan. The pictures will show 2 ways of the same. You will have 1.5 minutes to prepare and 2 minutes to answer.

The task is evaluated in the same way as the previous one:

• Using at least 12 phrases - 3 points
• There is an introduction and conclusion - 2 points
• Few or no errors - 2 points

If the communicative task is not solved (you did not compare the pictures according to the plan), then you get 0 points.

Examples of introductory phrases.

• I'd like to compare and contrast these two pictures for you.
• Let me talk about these two pictures for you., etc.

Closing phrase examples:

• That's all I wanted to tell you about these two pictures.
• I hope I've managed to complete the task., etc.

You may also need the following clichés:

• As for the similarities between the two pictures, ...
• However, there are some differences between these pictures.,
• I'd personally prefer shopping online, etc.

Examples of tasks for the oral part of the exam in English.

Examples of texts for reading - TASK 41.

Geography is the study of the Earth and its features, its inhabitants, and its phenomena. The word geography comes from Greek. It means “to write and draw about the Earth”. Geography studies continents, seas, rivers and mountains. It deals with all the people and animals that live on the Earth. It is interested in the things that happen on the Earth like tides, winds, and earthquakes. A person who is an expert in geography is a geographer. A geographer tries to understand the world and the things that are in it, how they started and how they have changed. Geographers need to know a lot about maps because maps are very important for understanding geography.

Geography is divided into two main parts called physical geography and human geography. Physical geography studies the natural environment and human geography studies the human environment. Human geography studies include things such as the population in a country, a country’s economy and so on.

Astronomy is the study of the universe and everything in it. This includes stars, planets and galaxies as well as other things. The word astronomy comes from two Greek words. The first means star and the second means slaw. A person who studies astronomy is called an astronomer.

Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences. Ancient people used the positions of the stars to navigate, and to find when was the best time to plant crops. Astronomy is very similar to astrophysics. Since the 20th century there have been two main types of astronomy, observational and theoretical astronomy. Observational astronomy uses telescopes and cameras to look at stars, galaxies and other astronomical objects. Theoretical astronomy uses maths and computer models to predict what should happen. The two often work together, the theoretical predicts what should happen and the observational shows whether the prediction works

Examples of tasks for constructing a conditional questioning dialogue - TASK 42.

Example 1. Study the advertisement.

You are considering visiting the exhibition and now you'd like to get more information. In 1.5 minutes you are to ask five direct questions to find out about the following:

• opening hours
• number of exhibits
• if one can take photos
• admission fee
• group discounts

Example 2

You are considering visiting the museum and now you'd like to get more information. In 1.5 minutes you are to ask five direct questions to find out about the following:

• location
• opening hours
• transportation
• guided tours
• if a visitor can have lunch there

You have 20 seconds to ask each question.

An example of tasks for compiling a monologue statement is TASK 43.

These are photos from your photo album. Choose one photo to describe to your friend.

You will have to start speaking in 1.5 minutes and will speak for not more than 2 minutes (12-15 sentences). In your talk remember to speak about:

• where and when the photo was taken
• what/who is in the photo
• what is happening
• why do you keep the photo
• why did you decide to show the picture to your friend

You have to talk continuously, starting with:

“I've chosen photo number ... “.

An example of tasks for compiling a monologue statement is TASK 44.

Study the two photographs. In 1.5 minutes be ready to compare and contrast the photographs:

• give a brief description of the photos (action, location)
• say what the pictures have in common
• say in what way the pictures are different
• say which of the professions presented in the pictures you'd prefer
• explain why

You will speak for not more than 2 minutes (12-15 sentences). You have to talk continuously.

UNIFIED STATE EXAM ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPLEX OF MATERIALS FOR PREPARING STUDENTS Edited by M.V. Verbitskaya

I really want to write about why the oral part of the exam does not reflect the real conversational skills of the student, but I will restrain myself. Instead, we will discuss more relevant issues - what does speaking at the Unified State Exam consist of and how to beat it.

Assignments of the oral part

The oral part of the Unified State Examination consists of 4 tasks:

1. Reading text
2. Dialogue-questioning with support
3. Photo Description
4. Comparison of two photos

All this is allotted 15 minutes. For the correct completion of all tasks, you can get 20 points.

The peculiarity of this part of the exam is that it is given on the computer. You come to a specially equipped classroom and receive a disk with the program. Run the program on your computer, put on the headset and follow the instructions on the screen. You can see how it will look on the exam in online simulators or. On the display you will see a timer that will help you track the response time yourself.

If there are any difficulties with the program, an assistant who is present in the class will help you. After recording each task, the student will be able to listen to himself. Please note that if the answer was not recorded, or recorded with strong interference, you must definitely tell the assistant about it! If you do not do this, the incorrectly recorded answer will go to the assessment of the expert.

Reading text

Task 1 of the oral part of the exam is a reading of the text of popular science topics. The legend says that you are preparing for a report in a foreign language and rehearsing it in front of a friend.

On the training 1.5 minutes are given for the task, and for text reading also given 1.5 minutes. The text is small, so it is quite possible to meet this time.

Here is an example of such a task:

Evaluation criteria

For the task you can get everything 1 point, if “speech is perceived easily: there are no unreasonable pauses; phrasal stress and intonation contours, pronunciation of words without violations of the norm. No more than five phonetic errors are allowed, including one or two errors that distort the meaning.

An error that distorts the meaning is considered:

1. Change of sound, which leads to a change in the meaning of the word. For example, live is pronounced with a long vowel - leave, cut - like cart. Or put is pronounced with a vowel “a” in the middle, and science is pronounced with two consonants at the beginning.
2. Incorrect pauses when reading text.

Simple phonetic errors include:

1. Incorrect reading of sentences with enumeration (should be with rising intonation)
2. Incorrect intonation of affirmative sentences (should be with a descending tone)
3. Incorrect setting of logical stress (it should fall on words that carry the main meaning in the sentence - most likely, this is a noun or a verb)
4. Incorrect pronunciation of sounds typical of the English language, substitution of their pronunciation for Russian sounds: [θ], [ð], [w], [h], [ŋ], [ɜ:]
5. Lack of "linking r" (linking r) - that is, voicing the final r / re in position before the vowel, if the next word begins with a vowel (for example, where is ..., there are ...)

Training

In fact, getting a maximum of 1 point for the first task is not difficult.

How I practice reading aloud with students:

1. I choose the text (I take the texts for reading from the Solutions textbooks of the Intermediate and Upper-Intermediate levels - they are voiced there), listen.
2. Let's work together to find the places we don't understand.
3. We are looking for a suitable passage.
4. We look through it and mark the semantic pauses with vertical lines - | .
5. We underline the words that carry meaning (we ignore all service words - articles, prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs).
6. We listen to the passage again and repeat after the speaker, then the student reads himself.

Then I ask the same algorithm at home and listen to the student in the lesson. Below is an example of the text parsed in this way:

About the reading rules that I pay attention to when preparing, I already wrote in, and. These are articles about the OGE, the first task in both exams is very similar. Also on the links you will find exercises on the studied sounds.

• Practice at home with a voice recorder, listen to yourself and mark mistakes. Since during the exam you will encounter noise interference in the face of other students who will start talking with you and will annoy you, I advise you to turn on the TV or radio during training to simulate this very irritant.
• If you don’t know how a word is read (for example, shallow), remember how similar words are read (narrow) and read by analogy. When preparing, I strongly recommend that you check the pronunciation of all difficult words with the dictionary
• Pause at punctuation marks and emphasize intonation independent parts of speech
• Take your time! 90 seconds is enough to read the entire text at a calm pace
• If you realize that you read a word incorrectly, reread it correctly. Only the last version of the word will be counted.
• Before the oral part of the exam in the morning, say one option at home

To prepare for this part of the exam, as always, I recommend assignments from the FIPI website, as well as the following books: