Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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2 photos: top opposite — Speak! Learning Centre, bottom opposite — Martin Dalton
What is Trinity College London?
What is Trinity College London?
Trinity College London is an independent international
examinations board, fully accredited in England as an awarding
body. Trinity provides qualifications in the English language,
music and performing arts throughout the world.
Trinity has been examining since 1872 and now over half a
million people each year take one of our examinations.
At Trinity, we believe in recognising the achievements of every
learner. Each journey starts with a first step — including the
journey of learning English. In this booklet, you will learn how
Trinity recognises the achievements of learners of English at
the beginning of their journey.
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The Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE)
The Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE)
The Graded Examinations in Spoken English are designed for all learners of English.
There are 12 grades in total, so whatever your student’s level of English there is an
examination that they can take — and should pass!
Learners of English — particularly children — like to know that they are progressing
and that the language they have learnt can be used in a real-life situation. Trinity
recognises this and values the positive motivational effect of an examination which
encourages further learning.
Each GESE examination is conducted in person by a Trinity examiner. All Trinity
examiners are highly-trained and experienced native speakers of English who travel
from the UK to your country, normally to your school, to meet your students. The
exam consists of an unscripted one-to-one conversation with the examiner (held in
a designated examination room) during which the students demonstrate that they
can communicate in English.
The 12 grades of GESE are divided into four stages:
Topic presentation
Topic discussion
Candidate-led
Interactive task
discussion of topic
Since, for many, the journey of learning English begins at an early age, this booklet
has been prepared to help teachers of young learners prepare them for their Trinity
examinations. Teachers of older learners may find the techniques outlined in this
booklet helpful, but should bear in mind that the materials are designed specifically
for younger learners
Full details of all Trinity’s ESOL examinations can be found in the latest edition of our
syllabuses or on our website www.trinitycollege.co.uk/esol
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GESE Grade 1 — Syllabus
GESE Grade 1 — Syllabus
Please refer to the ‘General Information’ section on page 28 for more details.
Grade 1
Format
Total time: 5 minutes
The examination consists of one assessed phase:
• Conversation with the examiner (up to 5 minutes).
Candidate performance
In performing the required task, the candidate is expected to demonstrate the following communicative
skills and use the language items listed below.
Communicative skills
• Exchange greetings with the examiner
• Show understanding of simple instructions through appropriate actions
• Give very short, even single-word, answers to simple questions and requests for information
Functions
• Exchanging greetings
• Giving personal information (name, age)
• Identifying and naming items given in the lexical list below
• Leave-taking
Lexis
The candidate is expected to demonstrate the ability to understand and use the vocabulary related to
• Personal information
• Immediate surroundings including classroom objects
• Parts of the face and body
• Animals — common domestic, farm and wild
• Cardinal numbers up to 20
• Colours
• Items of clothing
Phonology
• The correct pronunciation of individual sounds to form intelligible words
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GESE Grade 1 — Syllabus
Examiner and candidate language
The sample exchanges below show some ways in which examiners and candidates might express
themselves during the conversation. These are only examples, not models to be learned.
Examiner Candidate
Look at me. This is a white shirt, a black (candidate says what he or she is wearing)
jacket ... And you? A red shirt, blue trousers.
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GESE Grade 1 — Teaching materials
GESE Grade 1 — Teaching Materials
Warning
The suggestions given in this document are only examples of some of the many ways
of practising for the real exam, as examiners will use a range of methods and questions
for eliciting the required language of Grade 1. Therefore, teachers who want to practise
a real Grade 1 exam should use a range of elicitation techniques and relevant materials.
The examples given are NOT models to be learnt.
Examiner suggests the wrong day – Is it Saturday today? What day is it?
– Do you have a question for me?
Communicative skills
Functions
✓ Exchanging greetings
✓ Giving personal information (name, age)
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Numbers
GESE Grade 1 — Teaching Materials
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20
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GESE Grade 2 — Syllabus
GESE Grade 2 — Syllabus
Grade 2
Format
Total time: 6 minutes
The examination consists of one assessed phase:
• Conversation with the examiner (up to 6 minutes).
Candidate performance
In performing the required task, the candidate is expected to demonstrate the following communicative
skills and use the language items listed below.
Communicative skills
• Understand short, simple questions, requests and statements
• Respond with appropriate actions and positive and negative short form answers
• Contribute to the conversation using memorised phrases and short statements
• Use a basic range of words and simple phrases related to personal details and situations
• Ask for very basic personal information, e.g. about possessions
Functions
• Indicating the position of people and objects
• Describing people, animals, objects and places very simply
• Stating simple facts
• Informing about possessions
• Asking very simple questions about personal details
Lexis
The candidate is expected to demonstrate the ability to understand and use the vocabulary related to
• Rooms in the home
• Household objects
• Family and friends
• Pets
• Possessions
• Days of the week and months of the year
• Cardinal numbers up to 50
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GESE Grade 2 — Syllabus
Phonology
• The correct pronunciation of items associated with the lexical areas listed above
• The appropriate stress for short form answers, e.g. Yes, I do
• Contractions, e.g. I’ve, I’m, he’s
Examiner Candidate
Grade 2 communicative skills and functions have been mapped to A1 in the CEFR.
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GESE Grade 2 — Teaching materials
Warning
The suggestions given in this document are only examples of some of the many ways
of practising for the real exam, as examiners will use a range of methods and questions
for eliciting the required language of Grade 2. Therefore, teachers who want to practise
a real Grade 2 exam should use a range of elicitation techniques and relevant materials.
The examples given are NOT models to be learnt.
Communicative skills
Functions
Grammar
a) Understand
✓ Present simple tense questions
✓ Question words — who, when
b) Understand and use
✓ Present simple tense
✓ Question words, e.g. where, what
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Home/Rooms
GESE Grade 2 — Teaching materials
Does the student know the difference – Do you live in a house or a flat?
between ‘room’/‘living room’/‘bedroom’? – Describe your house/flat.
– How many rooms are there?
– Do you have a computer? Where is it?
– Is it yours?
The examiner shows a picture of a house
with rooms, furniture, etc. – Look at this house. What’s in the kitchen?
– There are some flowers. Where are they?
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Present continuous
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18 photo: Martin Dalton
GESE Grade 3 — Introduction
GESE Grade 3 — Introduction
Grade 3 is the final examination in the Initial Stage of the GESE exams and
means that the learner has reached A2.1 in the Common European Framework
of Reference (CEFR).
This examination lasts up to seven minutes and now candidates are able to have
a more complex conversation with their examiner.
As the Grade 3 speaker of English can use the different tenses and prepositions
specified in the syllabus (see overleaf) in addition to the language of Grades
1 and 2, they can now describe their daily routines and other events to the
examiner, give very simple directions and describe what people are doing.
They can also talk about their parents’ jobs and what they do in their free time.
The Grade 3 examination is a stimulating communicative experience with the
candidate interacting more with the examiner. Like all the GESE grades there
is no script for the examiner to follow and they enjoy meeting their candidates
as much as the candidates enjoy talking — in English! — with their examiner.
Now that the learner has completed the GESE Initial stage, it is time to start
thinking about the next stage — Elementary stage. Next stop: Grade 4!
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GESE Grade 3 — Syllabus
GESE Grade 3 — Syllabus
Grade 3
Format
Total time: 7 minutes
The examination consists of one assessed phase:
• Conversation with the examiner (up to 7 minutes).
Candidate performance
In performing the required task, the candidate is expected to demonstrate the following communicative
skills and use the language items listed below.
Communicative skills
• Show understanding by responding appropriately to simple questions and requests
• Use basic sentence patterns with memorised phrases to communicate limited information
related to simple everyday situations
• Exchange basic personal information and descriptions of everyday life and activities
• Link groups of words in a very simple way (using and, and then)
Functions
• Describing daily routines, events and weather
• Telling the time and giving dates
• Expressing ability and inability
• Giving very simple directions and locations
• Describing current activities of real people or those in pictures
• Describing states in the past
Language production
The candidate is expected to demonstrate the ability to understand and use the items listed below, in
addition to the items listed for the previous grades.
Grammar
• Present continuous tense
• Can and can’t
• Prepositions of movement from, to, up, down, along, across
• Prepositions of time on, in, at
• Prepositions of place near, in front of, behind, opposite
• Past tense of verb to be
• Ordinal numbers up to 31st (for dates)
• Link words and, and then
Lexis
• Jobs
• Places in the local area
• Place of study
• Home life
• Weather
• Free time
• Times and dates
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GESE Grade 3 — Syllabus
Phonology
• The correct pronunciation of the items associated with the lexical areas listed above
• The use of contractions where appropriate
• Basic stress and intonation patterns for words and short sentences
Examiner Candidate
Grade 3 communicative skills and functions have been mapped to A2.1 in the CEFR.
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GESE Grade 3 — Teaching materials
GESE Grade 3 — Teaching materials
Warning
The suggestions given in this document are only examples of some of the many ways
of practising for the real exam, as examiners will use a range of methods and questions
for eliciting the required language of Grade 3. Therefore, teachers who want to
practise a real Grade 3 exam should use a range of elicitation techniques and relevant
materials. The examples given are NOT models to be learnt.
Communicative skills
Functions
Grammar
Lexis
✓ Jobs
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Places in the local area
GESE Grade 3 — Teaching Materials
If a window with a view is available – Walking from this school to your house,
what can you see? A park? Some shops?
– Look out of the window. What can
you see?
– Do you have a question for me?
24 photos: above top — Speak! Learning Centre; above bottom — Sylva Nay; opposite — Sylva Nay
Time, Daily routines, Place of study, Free time
Time, Daily routines, Place of study, Free time: Which language items are we testing?
Please check the criteria listed on page 20.
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Free time, Present continuous, Can/can’t
GESE Grade 3 — Teaching Materials
Free time, Present continuous, Can/can’t: Which language items are we testing?
Please check the criteria listed on page 20.
Candidate profile
By the end of the Initial stage, the candidate can:
• understand what is said clearly, slowly and directly in simple everyday conversation with support
• communicate in basic routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar
matters to do with work and free time
• use basic sentence patterns and communicate through memorised phrases, groups of a few words and
formulae about himself or herself and other people, what they do, places and possessions.
This profile is based on the level Basic User, A2, the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (2001).
Format
The examination at each grade consists of the following:
• greetings and setting at ease
• conversation
• end of conversation and leave-taking.
Procedure
In all grades, the examiner begins by greeting the candidate and trying to set him or her at ease. The
conversation is then initiated by the examiner and gives the candidate the opportunity to demonstrate
through both speech and actions the range of language required at this stage.
During the examination, the candidate is required to display understanding through gesture and simple
actions, such as moving around the room or pointing to specific objects, and by giving short responses.
The examiner asks questions using the grammatical structures listed for the grade and expects the candidate
to answer using the language indicated for the grade (and for the previous grades where applicable).
Examiners select their own materials appropriate to the age and maturity of the candidate. These could
include everyday objects and pictures which can be used to engage the candidate’s interest, elicit the
language of the grade and encourage the conversation to develop. The examiner may also refer to the
immediate surroundings of the examination room or centre.
At all grades, the examiner brings the conversation to an end by thanking the candidate and saying
goodbye. The candidate is expected to say goodbye.
Assessment
At each grade, the examiner assesses the candidate’s performance by selecting one of four levels of
performance and awards a letter grade A, B, C or D. These levels can be classified as follows:
A — Distinction
B — Merit
C — Pass
D — Fail
Examiners indicate key areas which are in need of improvement by using the appropriate tick boxes
provided on the Report form.
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Notes
Notes
Initial steps with Trinity — First qualifications in English: GESE Grades 1–3
This booklet provides teachers with a comprehensive breakdown
of the requirements and some preparation techniques for Trinity
Graded Examinations in Spoken English (GESE) Grades 1–3.
www.trinitycollege.co.uk/esol