BUSINESS EXPLORER 1

SPEAKING scoring sheet

NAME: ....................................................................................................
SKILL
Fluency
Interaction
Pronunciation
Grammar
Vocabulary

5
5
5
5
5

4
4
4
4
4

SCORE
3
3
3
3
3

SCORE:/25 ..............................................

COMMENTS
2
2
2
2
2

1
1
1
1
1

Fluency
5
4
3
2
1

Speech is effortless and smooth

Speech is occasionally hesitant, some unevenness caused by rephrasing and searching for words
Speech is frequently hesitant and jerky and sentences may be left uncompleted
Speech is very slow and uneven except for short or memorized sentences
Speech is so broken that conversation is virtually impossible

Interaction
5 Interacts naturally and comfortably
4 Is generally successful in participating in and developing the conversation
3 Makes an effort to participate in and develop the conversation, but may dominate or otherwise cause
unnatural interaction
2 Participates in the conversation, but does little to develop it
1 No eye contact, little attempt to participate in conversation

Pronunciation
5 No obvious mispronunciations
4 Accent and occasional mispronunciations which do not interfere with understanding
3 Accent requires concentrated listening, and mispronunciations lead to occasional
misunderstandings
2 A very heavy accent which makes understanding difficult and requires frequent repetition
1 Pronunciation frequently unintelligible

Grammar
5
4
3
2

Makes very few noticeable errors

Makes occasional errors which do not cause misunderstanding
Makes frequent errors which cause irritation or misunderstanding
Makes constant errors which often prevent communication and show lack of control of most major
structures
1 Shows little control of basic structures

Vocabulary
5 Has a good enough general vocabulary to deal with a variety of topics; has an accurate professional
vocabulary
4 Has a basic general and professional vocabulary, but frequently does not know the appropriate word
3 Frequently uses the wrong word, and limitations of vocabulary prevent discussion of some common
professional and social topics
2 Vocabulary limited to very basic personal and survival areas
1 Vocabulary inadequate for even the simplest conversation

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BUSINESS EXPLORER 1
HINTS FOR ORAL INTERVIEWS

Where possible, interview students in pairs to assess the communication between them.
The interview should last at least 5 10 minutes for each student.
Stay out of the interaction as much as possible. Talk only enough to give or clarify instructions.
Try to avoid giving any indication of how the oral interview is going. Comments such as Well done!
may be misunderstood.
Try to be as objective as possible when using the scoring criteria. You probably understand your
students very well, but they need to know how generally comprehensible they are.
Do both tasks, spending approximately half of the time on each.
In Task 2, the outcome of the role-play is, of course, less important than the process and language by
which interviewees attempt it.

SPEAKING activity sheet

TASK 1
This task helps to put the interviewees at their ease by giving them an opportunity to talk about
familiar, day-to-day topics.
Photocopy and cut up the question cards. The order of the cards corresponds to the order in which the
topics come up in the Students Book.
Take a card and read it. Encourage the interviewee to use answer plus where possible. If students are
being given the oral interview in pairs, have Student A take a card and ask Student B the question.
When Student B has answered, he or she picks up the next card and asks Student A question, and so on.

1
Please introduce yourself.

2
Describe your office.

3
Where do you live?

4
What does your company
make? Or What service does
your company provide?

5
What time is it?

6
What time do you start
work?

7
What time do you usually
go home?

8
How often do you make or
receive business calls?

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BUSINESS EXPLORER 1
9
How do you order furniture
and equipment in your
office?

10
How often do you go to
restaurants for your work?

11
How often do you travel by
airplane for your work?

12
How do you get to work
every day?

13
Which department do you
work in?

14
When did your company
start?

15
What has changed recently
in your company?

16
What are some important
events in your companys
history?

17
How often do you talk to
your boss?

18
Tell me about your family.
(Are you married? Do you
have children?)

19
What do you do in your free
time?

20
What kind of food do you
like?

21
What food do you
recommend to visitors to
your country?

22
How often do you have
meetings?

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BUSINESS EXPLORER 1
TASK 2
In this task, interviewees are asked to role-play a situation and try to reach a solution.
The cards describe the situation and the roles for each person. Photocopy and cut up the cards,
keeping the pairs together. It is probably better to use the same situation for all students, as this will
give a more objective basis for comparison. (You can use the other situations for extra practice.)
Situation 3 requires students to write down information. Provide extra paper for them to do so, or
make extra copies of those cards.
The interviewees take one card each from the pair, study the situation, and prepare their role.
Encourage them to add any details they wish. Give them about 2 minutes to do this. When they are
ready, ask them to begin the role-play, reminding them that they should not simply read their cards
to each other.

1A
You need a new color printer.

You need to print high-quality photos as

well as black and white text documents.

You want a fast printer. Your old printer

was 8 ppm (pages per minute) and was TOO
SLOW!

1B
You work at Compubiz, a computer
hardware store. Answer a telephone call
about printers. You have three printers in
the $300 - $700 range:
The Pickard DJ 900 - very high quality,
beautiful color photos (2400 x 1200 dpi
resolution), 9 ppm (pages per minute) black
and white, 7.5 ppm color. $349.99

The Ipson 5000 -high quality print, (1200 x

600 dpi) and very fast - black text at 15 ppm
and color at 14 ppm. $499.99

You use your printer a lot and need a new

one as soon as possible.

Call Compubiz and order a new printer. You

can spend about $500.

The Pickard G80 - All-in-One Printer

combines a color printer, scanner, copier,
and fax machine in one small unit.
Color printing (2400 x 1200 dpi); up to
12ppm black and 10ppm color.
$599.99 $50 discount if you buy TODAY!!!

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BUSINESS EXPLORER 1
2A

2B

You work in the Accounts Department of your

company. You are going to meet a new
employee in your department and give him/her
an orientation to the company and the office.

You have just started working for a new

company in the Accounts Department.
Someone from the department is going to
meet you and answer your questions. Greet
them and make small talk, and ask
some questions.
Where is your office?
Where do you get coffee, tea, etc?
Where do you get new supplies (paper,
floppy disks, etc?)

Greet the new employee and tell him/her

your name. Answer his/her questions (You
can make up any answers you want!)
There is a meeting at 4:00 today for
everybody. You will introduce him/her to
the other people then.
Sue, in the Human Resources Department,
can give information about health insurance.

What is a typical day like in this office?

Do you have to go to any meetings today?
You have a question about health insurance:
Is your family also covered (do they have the
same insurance as you)?

3A

3B

You work in Tokyo and need to go to

New York for a two-day conference next
month. Call the travel agency and make a
flight reservation.

You work at Business Flyers, a travel agency.

Answer the telephone, and then complete the
reservation form.

The conference starts on April 17.

You want a one-way ticket.
You want to fly business class.
Your Visa number is 4545 6895 1310
0120 expiration date January 2005
You prefer to fly JAL (Japan Airlines).
You have a budget of up to $3500.

FLIGHT INFORMATION
KLM Flight # 5018
Departs 04:00PM
NRT (Narita Airport)
Arrives 03:35PM
JFK (John F. Kennedy
International Airport)
$2662.00 one-way/business class
JAL Flight # 6
Departs 12:00PM
NRT
Arrives 11:20AM
JFK
$3613.00 one-way/business class
Name
From
To
One-way round-trip
Return
Depart
Date
Date
Time
Time
Class (economy/business/first)
Credit card number
Expiration date

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