Language Proficiency Assessment

Language Proficiency Assessment

Assessment Instructions The following tasks will serve as an assessment of your student s proficiency in the target language. This assessment has four components: Speaking Listening Reading Writing The tasks in each section range in difficulty from novice to superior. Your student should complete as many of the tasks as he/she is able to. Assure your student that he/she is not expected to be able to complete all of the tasks with equal ability. Encourage him/her that the sole purpose of this assessment is to demonstrate his/her ability in the target language. Please take notes and record your observations of the student s responses during each task on the Assessor s Note Sheets provided. To avoid any test anxiety for your student, you should let your student know that you will be taking some notes throughout the assessment that will help you later in making an accurate evaluation. When you have completed the assessment session with your student, please take time to review your notes, along with the student s writing samples, and assess your student s proficiency level for each component based on the Global LT Language Proficiency Assessment Guidelines. You will then be asked to rate your student s overall proficiency level. Note: If your student is a beginner, it may not be necessary to complete all of the components. The beginning level speaking and listening activities should give you a good indication of how much proficiency your student has in the target language. If your student is more advanced, you may want to skip some of the beginning tasks to focus on the higher level speaking and listening tasks and complete the reading and writing activities for further assessment. Part 1: WARM UP The purpose of the warm-up is to put the student at ease and allow him/her to practice responding to simple questions in the language being tested. Select 2-3 of the prompts below. Give them to your student in the target language and have him/her respond. Allow no more than 1 minute for each response. De onde você é? Fale a respeito de seu livro ou filme favorito. O que você prefere fazer no seu tempo livre? Quantos países você já visitou? Há quanto tempo você está aqui neste país? Part 2: Speaking Speaking Task 1: Identifying Simple Objects & Forming Simple Sentences Give your student a copy of Student Page 1 and have them look at the pictures in Set A. Ask them questions about the pictures based on the sample questions below.

Onde está a casa? Onde estão os sapatos? (Add your own additional questions.) Minimum Response: Your student should point to the correct pictures. O que é isto? (Point to the chair.) Que são estas? (Point to the keys) (Add your own additional questions.) Minimum Response: Your student should give a word or description. Now have your student look at the pictures in Set B. Ask your student questions about the pictures based on the following questions. (It may be helpful for you to write down your student s responses to these questions so that you can analyze them later.) O que ele está fazendo?(point to a picture.) O que eles estão fazendo? (Add your own additional questions.) Minimum Response: Your student should say at least a couple of words such as kick ball or bike ride Note: If your student answered all of the questions in this task without help, continue on to Task 2. If your student needed a good amount of help with this task, they are most likely at the novice level. You may stop the assessment here or try one of the listening tasks with them. Speaking Task 2: Giving a Simple Description Select one of the pictures on Student Page 2. Give your student a couple of minutes to look over the picture and then ask him/her to describe what is happening in the picture. Speaking Task 3: Describing Past Events Your colleague greets you on Monday morning and asks you what you did over the weekend. You will have 15 seconds to think about your response and 30 seconds to answer. Question Prompt: Conte-me o que você fez neste fim de semana. Speaking Task 4: Expressing an Opinion While traveling on business, you are discussing the typical workweek with a colleague. He remarks that some European businesses have adopted a six-day workweek and are providing employees with more paid vacation days. Some people argue that extending the workweek while providing more vacation will lead to better morale and production among the workers. Your colleague asks if you agree or disagree. You will have 30 seconds to consider your answer and 60 seconds to explain your opinion after the question prompt. Question Prompt: O que você acharia sobre ter seis dias de trabalho na semana, para compensar por maior tempo de férias?

Part 3: Listening Listening Task 1: Following Simple Commands Tell your student that you are going to give them some simple instructions that you need for them to follow. Listed below are some basic TPR (Total Physical Response) commands for you to use. Feel free to add some of your own. Diga-me qual é o seu nome. Pegue a caneta. Pegue o papel. Levante-se/Sente-se. Abra/Feche o livro. Acenda/Apague a luz. Mostre-me seu nariz/queixo/boca/etc.. Listening Task 2: Listening to a Phone Message You have offered to stop by the grocery store on the way to your friends house for dinner to pick up a few things for them. Your friend leaves a message on your voice mail letting you know what they need and what time you should be there. After listening to the following message, you will be asked to recall the important details. Read the following message to your student in the target language and then ask them to recall the items on the grocery list and the time they should arrive. Obrigada por passar pelo mercado para nós. Por favor traga pão, ovos, leite e suco de laranja. Também estamos precisando de cebolas roxas, maçãs e algumas bananas. Nos vemos às seis da tarde. Listening Task 3: Following Directions Note: A sample English map is provided for the following task. For other languages, please provide your student with an equivalent map in the target language in order to complete this task. Give your student a couple of minutes to look at the map on Student Page 3. Tell them you are going to give them some directions from one place on the map to another. Have them listen to your directions and show you where they end up on the map. Provided below is an example set of directions. Feel free to create your own as well. (Be sure to give the directions to your student in the target language.) 1. Você está na esquina da Alameda Santos com a Rua Augusta. 2. Caminhe em direção à Avenida Paulista. 3. Vire à direita na Avenida Paulista. 4. Siga em frente até chegar na Estação Trianon-Masp do Metro, perto da Rua Pamplona. 5. Que avenida principal corta a Av. Paulista nesse trajeto. (resposta: Avenida 9 de Julho)

Listening Task 4: Understanding a Newspaper Article Note: A sample English article and questions are provided below. For other languages, you will need to provide a simple article from a local newspaper in order to complete this task. Tell the student you are going to read them a short article from a newspaper and then you are going to ask them some questions about it. Inform the student that he/she is welcome to take notes while you are reading. Have them listen carefully to the main details (who, what, when, where & why) of the story. It may be helpful to read the questions to the student before reading the article to them. Garmisch-Partenkirchen: não só para esportes de inverno 15/12/2007 GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN,ALEMANHA A cidade situada ao pé da montanha mais alta da Alemanha é o maior centro de esportes de inverno do país, mas atrai visitantes o ano inteiro. Localizada na Baviera, a 720 metros de altitude e a poucos minutos da fronteira com a Áustria, Garmisch-Partenkirchen situa-se numa paisagem de tirar o fôlego, em meio às montanhas quase sempre nevadas dos Alpes. Os 30 mil habitantes da cidade recebem a cada ano mais de um milhão de visitantes, entre os quais a nata internacional dos esportes de inverno. Esqui, slalom, saltos, patinação artística, hóquei: a infra-estrutura local nada deixa a desejar, seja qual for a disciplina esportiva praticada na neve ou no gelo. Afinal, Garmisch-Partenkirchen sedia com freqüência campeonatos mundiais nessas modalidades, e é lá que se realiza, no início de janeiro, a primeira competição do calendário internacional de esportes de inverno, o torneio das Quatro Rampas, organizado juntamente com a Áustria. A carreira internacional de Garmisch-Partenkirchen começou em 1936, quando o lugar foi sede dos Jogos Olímpicos de Inverno. Para dar um porte digno à cidade, os bávaros decidiram em 1935 juntar dois lugarejos que tinham até então vida independente. Até hoje, Garmisch e Partenkirchen cultivam uma sadia rivalidade, mantendo cada uma o seu próprio corpo de bombeiros, clube de esqui, grupo de danças folclóricas. Agora a cidade tenta repetir a façanha, candidatando-se, ao lado de Munique e de Schönau, a sediar os Jogos Olímpicos de Inverno de 2018. Partenkirchen remonta aos tempos da colonização romana na região, no início da era cristã, quando servia de paragem aos viajantes que atravessavam os Alpes vindos de Roma em direção à Germânia. Garmisch foi mencionada pela primeira vez como

assentamento germânico no ano de 802. Bem preparada para o turismo, a cidade dupla que conservou sua atmosfera aconchegante abriga um sem-número de restaurantes com cozinha regional ou internacional, um comércio bem sortido e muitas opções para a vida noturna. Extracted from: DW-WORLD.DE de 03/18/2008 Questões sobre a compreensão do texto acima: 1) De que se trata este artigo? (Da cidade Garmisch-Partenkichen) 2) Onde fica essa cidade? (Fica na região da Baviera na Alemanha) 3) Qual a origem dessa cidade? (Da junção das cidades de Garmisch e de Partenkichen que remontam ao tempo dos romanos que atravessavam os Alpes) 4) Por que esta cidade é famosa atualmente? (Porque se tornou um centro internacional de esportes de inverno). 5) Que modalidades podem ser praticadas aí? ( Esqui, slalom, saltos, patinação artística, hóquei) 6) Que outras cidades são candidatas a sede dos jogos olímpicos de inverno em 2018? (Munique e Schönau ) Part 4: Reading Note: Sample reading materials for the following tasks are provided in English. For other languages, please provide your student with equivalent materials in the target language in order to complete the reading tasks. Reading Task 1: Reading a Menu Give your student a copy of Student Page 4 and have him/her read over the menu. Pretend that you are a waiter or waitress your student is a customer at the restaurant. Role-play with your student, having him or her place an order from the menu. Reading Task 2: Reading Simple Instructions Give your student a copy of Student Page 5. Have him/her read the instructions entitled How to Use a Coffeemaker. Reading Task 3: Reading a Newspaper Article Give your student a copy of Student Page 5. Have him/her read the article entitled Kids Lay Claim to Brushing Record and then discuss the article with the student, checking for comprehension. Reading Task 4: Reading a Book Give your student a copy of Student Page 6. Have them read the excerpt from Pearl S. Buck s The Good Earth and then discuss the excerpt with the student, checking for comprehension. Part 5: Writing Note: Writing templates are provided on Student Pages 7-9 for the following tasks.

Writing Task 1: Writing a Simple Letter Have your student write a short letter to you (in the target language) introducing himself/herself to you and telling you a little about his/her job, family, interests, etc. Writing Task 2: Writing an Email A colleague of yours would like to schedule a two-hour meeting with you next week to discuss an important business matter. He has emailed you, asking you to let him know when you are available. Compose an email to your colleague, letting him know that you are very busy next week, but that you could meet with him on Tuesday morning before 11 o clock or Friday afternoon after 2 o clock. Writing Task 3: Writing a Note You are going out of town and need to leave a note for the person who will be looking after your house while you are away. Write a note to this person, letting them know about five important things they need to look after while you are away (mail, garbage, pets, plants, etc.) Writing Task 4: Proposing a Course of Action Note: This task will be difficult for your student to complete in a short amount of time. Feel free to give your student extra time to complete this task. Imagine that you are participating in a high level business meeting. You and your co-workers are discussing your company s budget for the upcoming year. Some of your colleagues have suggested downsizing as a way to save the company money. Others have suggested limiting the services your company offers in order to reduce costs. As you leave the meeting, the vice president of your company asks each of you to write up a proposal, presenting the action you feel should be taken and giving valid and convincing reasons in defense of your proposal. The course of action you propose does not have to be one of the suggestions given by your co-workers.