On 11th February, 19 of our S6 students were invited to participate in an S6 Joint-school Oral Practice with Wah Yan College (Kowloon), Bishop Hall Jubilee School, Good Hope School and St. Rose of Lima’s College. It was a valuable opportunity for our students to practise having group discussions with students from schools mentioned above. They also understood their strengths and areas for improvement better through the feedback from teachers of other schools.
Two students shared their takeaways from the experience:
Participating in the Joint-school Oral Practice was certainly a golden opportunity for us to practise speaking and be better equipped for the upcoming DSE Speaking Exam. By interacting with students from different schools, it was undeniably a valuable experience to not only learn various skill sets from other candidates but to also obtain useful and practical suggestions from the examiner from other schools.
I was quite reluctant to join at first, as I was the kind of student that falls apart upon stress and nervousness. On top of that, knowing most of the candidates were from band one schools, I was even more terrified of how my performance would be far worse than theirs. However, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and join this activity, as what could possibly go wrong?
Well, to my surprise, it went better than expected. Not only was the group discussion calm and interactive, but the other candidates and I also had a lot of great ideas to discuss. Throughout the discussion, I was able to learn different strategies from other candidates, such as ways to elaborate on ideas in detail. After the discussion, the examiner also provided detailed explanations and suggestions on areas to work on, such as how raising questions can further promote a higher level of interaction.
Overall, it was a great experience and one that I will treasure, as it undoubtedly gave me better preparation for the DSE Speaking Exam. It was also a scarce opportunity as I got to interact with students from different schools.
6T (9) Yim Hiu Ching, Nicole
When Miss Chow invited me to the Joint School Oral Practice, I was both astounded and thrilled. Although I was stressed and under great pressure after I saw the names of the participating schools (they were all top Band 1 schools!)I knew this once-in-a-lifetime practice would be beneficial to my DSE Speaking Exam. I’m grateful to Miss Chow for giving me the opportunity.
Reflecting on my performance, I think I did well in several areas. In order to prepare myself well, I had a few oral practices with my friends the night before. I mainly practised seizing the opportunity to start the conversation. In the Joint-school Oral Practice, I successfully initiated the discussion and expressed my ideas before other candidates. I maintained eye contact most of the time, actively listened to other candidates and gave responses. Moreover, I tried not to expose too much of my nervousness. For my individual response, I tried my best to keep my pace slow so that I could think of what to say next.
Of course, there were things that I could have done better. Apparently, the other candidates had a wider range of vocabulary. I had learnt some of the vocabulary items they used, yet I couldn’t think of any during the preparation time! Furthermore, they were able to elaborate on their ideas for a whole minute. It was quite difficult to interrupt them when they almost covered all the points. especially when I was too timid.
I have thought of some tactics to prepare myself better when I encounter a similar situation next time. If a candidate speaks too much, I may interrupt by saying, “Sorry for interrupting, but may I add a point here please?” Then I will share my idea and elaborate on it. On top of that, I need to learn more advanced vocabulary items and use them more often.
The experience was truly valuable and I’m now more ready for the DSE Speaking Exam!
6T (6) Hung Ching Yu, Teresa