[bayof]

Hiya,

I'm in 5th year and doing German (the only one). My teacher isn't very good and only talked to me today about our Oral which slightly freaked me out as we haven't done much of that and she constantly says I pronounce everything wrong!

But she told me about the role play and the picture stories and has shown me them. I forgot however to ask if we can pick one and prepare that for the examiner for next June or if I have to prepare all of them? I wont be seeing her now until next September, and I'm just extremely curious

Thanks!

[alan4cult]

There are five picture sequences and five role plays. For the oral exam in April next year, you are expected to prepare all ten picture sequences and role plays.

What happens is you go into the exam and the examiner places five picture sequences face down in front of you and you pick one at random. The same happens for the role plays. So you must prepare all of them!

[bayof]

Oh great thanks!

[Piste]

There is also the option of doing a project. You pick a topic that interests you (it has to be something related to a german-speakin country) do a short project on it, and talk about it for a few minutes. You're allowed talk for two minutes uninterrupted then the examiner will ask you questions, you can do this instead of the picutres but you still have to do the roleplays (which we've started doing and look really fun!)

[teckoda]

I just done my German Oral today. Now I am a native German speaker, but I never learned the role plays or pictures stories. I had no problem with the picture stories but I have to say that the role play was hard because I was a little baffled as to what exactly I had to answer at one stage. Which may have resulted in me losing out in a few marks.

[1huge1]

Originally Posted by teckoda

I just done my German Oral today. Now I am a native German speaker, but I never learned the role plays or pictures stories. I had no problem with the picture stories but I have to say that the role play was hard because I was a little baffled as to what exactly I had to answer at one stage. Which may have resulted in me losing out in a few marks.

All you would of had to do was read over them once before going into the exam if your a native speaker to be honest, bit lazy on your part

[yamahaman]

well.....i have my german oral tomorow......crap!!!!!! i'm prob gna end up smackin the examiner german is a disgusting language!!!!!!! aaaahhh

[GV_NRG]

well smacking the examiner will get ya extra points all right!! dont forget to pause the tape though so you wont get caught have you much done for it?

[Aileen123]

I have mine tomorrow think il be ok for the rollenspielen and telling the story of the bildergescichte but dreading the questions on it and also the general questions dunno what to expect!

[pancakes rule]

I've heard that the german oral is different to other languages in the way that there are only seven topics that they can ask you on and nothing too obscure or about the government will come up. Is that true?

[EmacB]

Originally Posted by pancakes rule

I've heard that the german oral is different to other languages in the way that there are only seven topics that they can ask you on and nothing too obscure or about the government will come up. Is that true?

That sounds about right for the general conversation but after the picture sequence they ask for an opinion on an issue related to the story. These are harder, for example she asked me what problems are associated with living in the city after i did ruhestorung.

[stealinhorses]

I did my oral on Tuesday. Ended up getting "Vorsicht beim Rauchen" and "Pass Verloren", which was grand. The hardest questions she asked were "what do you think of German people?" and "why do young people smoke?". I managed to steer the conversation quite well, I talked about my plans for next year and she kept asking about learning German.
I'm quite happy with how it went, hoping to get an A in the written and do my best in the listening .

[Violafy]

Originally Posted by pancakes rule

I've heard that the german oral is different to other languages in the way that there are only seven topics that they can ask you on and nothing too obscure or about the government will come up. Is that true?

They usually stay within those 7 topics, but could branch out into something else if you hint at it or bring it up eg. I'm a vegetarian so brought it up in my oral because it's "different" , and she asked me something about healthy eating. But it was fine, as I'd prepared it.

[Aoifey!]

Originally Posted by stealinhorses

I did my oral on Tuesday. Ended up getting "Vorsicht beim Rauchen" and "Pass Verloren", which was grand. The hardest questions she asked were "what do you think of German people?" and "why do young people smoke?". I managed to steer the conversation quite well, I talked about my plans for next year and she kept asking about learning German.
I'm quite happy with how it went, hoping to get an A in the written and do my best in the listening .

Pass Verloren was the one I was wishing to come up last year. I loved that one! But instead I got Frisch Gestrichen.

[vamos!]

Originally Posted by Piste

There is also the option of doing a project. You pick a topic that interests you (it has to be something related to a german-speakin country) do a short project on it, and talk about it for a few minutes. You're allowed talk for two minutes uninterrupted then the examiner will ask you questions, you can do this instead of the picutres but you still have to do the roleplays (which we've started doing and look really fun!)

I would personally avoid the project. You still have to be familiar with the vocabulary of the picture stories as part of the general course. If you dont see your German teacher often or dont find them good, buy an oral book. There are 2 of them. Use these to prepare your own answer. They also explain the structure of the exam and at least one of them has a CD so you can listen to the pronunciation of keywords.