On 29th March 2019, a joint-school English Speaking practice was held at Wah Yan College for a select group of students from Form 5. Students from Wah Yan College and Holy Family Canossian College participated in this event along with our own students. This speaking practice allowed students to further familiarize themselves with the procedures of the speaking exam, and to improve their speaking skills with group-mates of different English language proficiency.
After students from LTP arrived at Wah Yan College, they were separated into groups of 3-4 which contained at least one student from each school. All students were briefed about the procedures of the event by the teachers of Wah Yan College and the discussion began immediately. Students were all given ten minutes to prepare notes on the topic and then given another eight minutes to discuss the question, just like in the HKDSE. Three discussions were carried out with different group-mates each time. When all discussions ended, one student from each school was invited up on stage to demonstrate Part B of the speaking exam – the one-minute individual response. Afterwards, students and teachers were invited to share their thoughts in the debriefing session.
This event was a great opportunity for all participants to practice their group discussion skills in an authentic environment. During the DSE, students would not know their group-mates’ capability of speaking in English, and this practice granted them the chance to learn to be comfortable and adaptable to others’ strengths and weaknesses.
Written by 5M Shino Lim
