Le

esson plans for exaam preparration

IS
SE II Inte
erview: L
Lesson Plan
P 3

IS
SE II (B2
2) Inter
rview: preparing the
e Interaactive Task
T

Leve
el: Time
e:
ISE II (CEFR B2) 3 x 45
5 minutes

Aims
s:
To
o prepare foor the Interactive Taskk what is itt? What do you need tto do?
To
o show studdents good examples
e o
of the Intera
active
To
o show studdents how to o avoid misstakes in the e Interactiv
ve Task
To
o practise th
he Interactiive Task in role plays

Reso
ources and
d preparattion:
Trrinity DVD or
o DVDs fro om the Trin ity website: www.trinittycollege.coo.uk
Haandout 1 (H/O1) - Language and sskills for thee Interactiv
ve Task, ISEE II
Haandout 2 (HH/O2) - A Demonstrat
D tion Promp pt for a stro
ong studen nt to role play the
te
eacher. N.b. Only 1 copy
y is necessa n for the whole classs.
ary, this is not
Haandout 3a (H/O3a):
( Prrompts for SSpeaker A,, ISE II

Proc cedure:
1. Introducing the
t Interac
ctive Task (up to 45 minutes):
i) Sho
owing a DVD D of the Interactive Ta
ask (up to 25
2 minutes):
Tell tthe students they are e going to watch a DVD
D of an Interactivee Task. Sho ow the
studeents the folllowing list on ard (ideally, you shouldd write this before
o the blackk/white boa
the le
esson beginns):

Basic
c skills for an
a Interactive Task: a ll students at ISE II must
m at leasst
S
Start the intteraction by
y asking forr more information.
A
Ask the examiner quesstions and m
make comm
ments.
Invite the ex
xaminer to make comm
ments.
T
Take respon
nsibility for maintainin
ng the intera
action betw
ween the stu
udent/exam
miner.

Next,, show the DVD. Tell the

t studentts to look for the exammples in thhe box abov
ve. Tell
them to notice whether
w theey see the sstudent dem
monstrating
g these skillls.

Show
w the DVD of
o Anthasia doing the I nteractive Task.

y saw the candidate ddemonstratting all 4

Afterr watching the DVD(s)), ask the cclass if they
skills.. Ask them for any exxamples of what the candidate did correcttly. Accept as many
sugge estions as possible
p and be as possitive as po ng the students that
ossible. Finish by tellin
what the examin ner needs to see is tha
at you can take
t controol of the connversation and keep
the examiner inv volved by asking relevvant questio
ons to develop the con nversation.
 ISE II Interview - Lesson plan 3: preparing the Interactive Phase

ii) The language and skills of the Interactive Task (up to 20 minutes):

Now give the class copies of H/O1. Give them a few minutes to read through the list of language and
skills that they need to demonstrate. Explain that some language and skills must always be
demonstrated and other language and skills are required depending on the situation that the
examiner reads to you.

Tell the class that they are going to watch the DVD again. This time they need to tick () the boxes
on H/O1 that describe what the candidate is doing. Answers:

Athanasia ISE II
ask for further information
comment on the examiners responses
encourage comments and opinions from the examiner
take, give up and offer turns when appropriate

speculate
give advice
make suggestions
describe past habits
express impossibility
persuade and discourage
express feelings and emotions
report the conversations of others
express possibility and uncertainty
express agreement and disagreement
highlight advantages and disadvantages

2. Practising the Interactive Task (up to 45 minutes):

i) 1st role play (25 minutes):
Divide the class into 2 groups, A and B (e.g. divide the room into halves, rows, small groups of 4-6,
or whatever is practical). Give the A students H/O3. Tell the A students that they should look at
Speaker A prompts, Prompt 1. They are going to be examiners and they need to invent a
backstory - the story of what has already happened until now. They should work together in their
small groups to try and invent a backstory.
At the same time, students in the B groups should look at H/O1 and look at the box of language and
skills for ISE II. They should think of phrases and questions they can use to express everything in
the list. They are going to be the candidates.
For the teacher: here are some examples of language that the students could use. If you prefer,
you could teach these examples in an earlier lesson, before preparing Trinity. Please remember
that these are only examples, they are not essential phrases. There are many different ways of
expressing these functions:

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 ISE II Interview - Lesson plan 3: preparing the Interactive Phase

ISE II example language for demonstrating the functions

I wonder what might happen...
speculate
It could have been caused by...
give advice You should/ought to... If I were you...
make suggestions Why dont you...? Have you thought about...?
describe past habits I used to... We would...
express impossibility It cant have been... That would never happen...
persuade and discourage You should consider... I wouldnt... if I were you.
express feelings and emotions It makes me...
report the conversations of others He/she told/promised/warned me that...
express possibility and uncertainty That might help... Im not sure about that...
express agreement/disagreement I see what you mean... Im not sure I agree...
highlight advantages/disadvantages On the one hand... However, on the other hand...

After 10 minutes, tell the students that they are now going to do a role play exam. Tell them to sit in
A+B pairs (x2). If you have students of different Grades in the class, put together A+B with the
same Grade. Tell the students that the A is going to be the examiner and must read out Prompt 1.
The B is going to be the student and has to start the conversation, by demonstrating all of the skills
and language they have prepared. After 5 minutes, stop the activity. Tell the students to discuss
which language was used by B. Did they do everything?
ii) Five common problems to avoid in the Interactive (background information for teachers)
One of the best ways to stop misconceptions and misunderstandings is to illustrate ways in
which the activity shouldnt be done. The demonstration of 5 ways to do the Interactive badly is
a very effective way of doing this.
In summary, the 5 mistakes to avoid are:
1/. Dont interrupt the instructions.
2/. Dont focus only on 1 word from the prompt.
3/. Dont just ask 1-word questions.
4/. Dont talk about yourself, talk about the examiners situation.
5/. Ask questions to find out more information before you give advice or make comments.
You can write these 5 points on the board after the activity.

iii) How to demonstrate these 5 mistakes (20 minutes): This is a fun activity and students will
enjoy it, if you are a bit over dramatic. Once you have finished, elicit any positive feedback and
give the students the chance to ask any questions. Choose a student that you think is going to be
strong enough to play the role of the examiner. You then pretend to be a student. Pretending to
be the student, you then demonstrate five different ways to do the Interactive badly. After each
demonstration, ask the class what you're doing wrong. Give the strong student you have
selected the Demonstration Prompt on H/O2. Here are the instructions for doing the
demonstration:
Example 1:
The first time, the examiner reads the introduction and the prompt and you constantly
interrupt them with, "yeah, I know, I know, yes, yes, yes" type comments. Ask the class what
you're doing wrong. Keep accepting guesses until somebody says: you shouldn't interrupt the
examiner. Congratulate the class on getting the correct answer. Be positive.
Examples 2-5:
For the next four examples, the examiner reads the actual prompt not the introduction. The
ways in which you get it wrong each time are:
2/. Just talking about colleges without talking about the examiners problems
3/. Just asking one-word questions
4/. Talking only about yourself, I..I..I..
5/. Just giving advice without even asking whats wrong.

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 ISE II Interview - Lesson plan 3: preparing the Interactive Phase

3. The 2nd and 3rd role plays (Up to 45 minutes)

i) Preparing for the 2nd role play (15 minutes)
Organise this activity in a similar way to the previous role play, except this time, divide the class
into 3 groups: A, B and C. Try to give people a different role from the last time.
A = students B = examiners C = observers

Each group needs to look at handouts:

The students (A):
Look at the language on H/O2.
Examiners (B):
Look at H/O3. All students should look at example 2 on their handouts.
The observers (C):
Look at both H/O2 (Language) and H/O3 (Prompts) make sure they are looking at the correct
language and prompts for their Grade.

Give the groups 15 minutes preparation time: The students (A) think of phrases they can use for
their language list. The examiners (B) think of some ideas for their backstory. The observers (C)
think about how the language list and prompt can work together.

ii) Doing the 2nd role play (10 minutes)

Put A, B and C students from the same Grade together in groups of 3.
The examiners start by reading their prompts
The students ask the examiner for more information and let the conversation develop.
The observers must note all good examples of language that they hear. They must be prepared
to tell the students if they used all of the language on H/O2 and if they avoided the 5 mistakes
that you demonstrated in the ways not to do the Interactive Task activity.
After 5 minutes, stop the activity and give the observers 2 minutes to tell the students all of the
positive things that they did. Students need a lot of positive signals to gain confidence.

iii) The 3rd role play (20 minutes)

Change the students roles and repeat the last activity. Make sure that they are now using a new
prompt: Prompt 3 on H/O3.

Option: If you have time or want more examples, play more samples from the Trinity DVD or the
Trinity website. Encourage the students to tell you what the student is doing right, and if there is
anything that they could do better.

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 ISE II Interview - Lesson plan 3: preparing the Interactive Phase

Handout 1 Language & skills for the Interactive: ISE II

ISE II
You must always:
ask for further information

comment on the examiners responses

encourage comments and opinions from the examiner

take, give up and offer turns when appropriate

And when appropriate:

speculate

give advice

make suggestions

describe past habits

express impossibility

persuade and discourage

express feelings and emotions

report the conversations of others

express possibility and uncertainty

express agreement and disagreement

highlight advantages and disadvantages

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 ISE II Interview - Lesson plan 3: preparing the Interactive Phase

Handout 2: Interactive Phase a demonstration prompt

For the student: you are going to pretend to be the examiner. You have to read out the
Instructions and the Prompt. You will need to invent a story to help to keep the
conversation going. You can use the Hints to help you think of things to say.

Instructions:

For the next part, Ill tell you something. Then you have to ask me questions to find out
more information. You need to keep the conversation going. After about four minutes, Ill
end the conversation. Are you ready?

Prompt:

My local college has a great range of courses and Id really like to study something, but Im
not sure which course to take.

*Hints:
- You havent studied at college for some years and feel nervous.
- Youre not sure if you would choose something physical or academic.
- But when you were at school, you used to be good at art.
- Your family thinks its a good idea.
- Advantages: you would be able to do something independently.
you would be able to meet new friends.
- Disadvantages: you would have to go alone with no other friends.

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 ISE II Interview - Lesson plan 3: preparing the Interactive Phase

Handout 3: example ISE II Interactive prompts SPEAKER A

ISE II, Prompt 1 - Speaker A:

If I hadnt met my best friend, I think my life would have been different in many ways.

ISE II, Prompt 2 - Speaker A:

It's often said that life was much better 100 years age, but I'm not sure I agree.

ISE II, Prompt 3 - Speaker A:

When I came back from holiday, my neighbour told me about some strange things that
had happened in the street while I was away.

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