SPAN 2 Topics for the Oral Exam: Students

The oral exam will be in pairs and will last five minutes. First, students will speak to each other for four
minutes; groups of three students (if any) will converse for six minutes. After your 4-minute (or 6-minute)
conversation, your instructor will ask a couple of follow-up questions to each member. Each group will
select a topic from the list below and you will have two weeks to prepare your dialogue.

The oral exam will be on Monday and Wednesday of Week 15. You do not have regular class on the
two days the oral exam is scheduled. You attend only the day and time you are scheduled to take the
exam. You and your partner will sign up for a 5-minute time slot in Week 13.

You can use your textbook, a paper dictionary, and your notes to prepare your conversation, but you
will not be allowed to have anything with you during the oral exam, other than the prompt in English that
your group has prepared. Prior to the exam, your instructor may ask to check your workspace. You and
your partner should enter your instructor’s Zoom room at least five minutes before your scheduled time.
You must have your video activated for the entire duration of your oral exam.

The oral exam is worth 20 points and will be graded following the evaluation criteria for oral expression,
https://sip.la.psu.edu/blp/courses/evaluation-criteria-for-oral-expression. Each student’s performance
will be graded individually.

Oral Exam Topics

5.1, 8.1 & 8.2 (vocabulary), 4.3 & 5.1 (grammar)

Goal: Speaking about planning an event or celebration at home.
Use the present tense, ser and estar, tener que + infinitive, ir + a + infinitive, interrogative words, and
vocabulary related to household chores, things that you find in a house (rooms, furniture, appliances,
accessories, etc.), holidays, invitations, and celebrations.

5.1 (vocabulary), 4.3 & 5.1 (grammar)

Goal: Speaking about renting a house next semester.
Use the present tense, ir + a + infinitive, interrogative words, and vocabulary related to household
chores and house (rooms, furniture, accessories, etc.)

6.1 & 6.2 (vocabulary), 6.2 (grammar)

Goal: Speaking about your shopping preferences.
Use the present tense with shopping and clothing vocabulary and gustar and similar verbs like interesar,
quedar, parecer, fascinar, and encantar.

6.1 & 6.2 (vocabulary), 6.1, 7.1, & 7.2 (grammar)

Goal: Speaking about a past shopping experience.
Use the preterit tense (regular, irregular, and stem-changing verbs) with vocabulary for shopping,
clothes, and accessories.

7.1 & 7.2 (vocabulary), 6.2 (grammar)

Goal: Speaking about your favorite sports in different seasons.
Use the present tense with sports, seasons, and weather vocabulary, and gustar and similar verbs like
interesar, caer bien/mal, parecer, and encantar.

6.2 & 7.2 (vocabulary), 6.1, 7.1 & 7.2 (grammar)

Goal: Speaking about your past routine during different seasons.
Use clothing and weather vocabulary with the preterit tense and reflexive verbs in preterit tense.

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5.1 & 7.1 (vocabulary), 4.3 & 8.1 (grammar)
Goal: Speaking about your life in high school and your current life in college.
Use household chores, activities, and sports vocabulary with the present and imperfect tenses.

8.1 (vocabulary), 8.1 & 8.2 (grammar)

Goal: Speaking about how you used to celebrate some holidays as a child and how you
celebrated last year.
Use holiday and celebration vocabulary with the preterit and imperfect tenses.

8.1 (vocabulary), 4.3, 8.1 & 8.2 (grammar)

Goal: Speaking about how you used to celebrate holidays as a child in comparison to your
celebrations nowadays.
Use holiday and celebration vocabulary with the imperfect, present tense, comparisons of inequality
and equality, and the superlative.

9.1 (vocabulary), 4.3 & 5.1 (grammar)

Goal: Speaking about looking for a job.
Use the present tense, present progressive, ir + a + infinitive, tener que + infinitive, and job and looking
for a job vocabulary.

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